20 artists you should follow on Instagram

Grayson Perry is an English contemporary artist, writer and broadcaster, known for his ceramic vases, tapestries and cross-dressing, as well as for his biting analysis of the contemporary art scene and commentary on British "prejudices, fashions and foibles". His work has strong autobiographical elements: Perry often depicts himself as "Claire", his female alter-ego, or "Alan Measles" (hence his name on Instagram), his childhood teddy bear.

Olafur Eliasson is a Danish-Icelandic artist known for his monumental sculptures and installations using light, water and temperature to enhance the viewer's emotional and aesthetic experience. In 1995, he founded Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin. One of his most famous works is "The Weather Project", installed at the Tate Modern in London in 2003, the very same year that Eliasson represented Denmark at the 50th Venice Biennale. 

Matt Gondek, aka GONDEKDRAWS, is an American painter, muralist and illustrator based in Los Angeles, known for his "deconstruction" of pop characters and icons including Mickey Mouse and Homer Simpson, depicted on the verge of exploding or falling apart. He is a self-taught artist, and his work has strong references to the world of comics, video games and cartoons. He boasts a significant fanbase on Instagram, where he posts images and videos of his works. 

Jenny Holzer is an American neo-conceptual artist, famous for her light and provocative installations involving statements and quotations in public spaces. Her artistic practice falls within the feminist branch of the generation of artists that emerged in the 1980s. Monumental installations, advertising posters, projections onto buildings, light screens created to inhabit the street but whose testimony lives on her Instagram profile as well. 

Paul Octavious is a Chicago-based photographer, videomaker and designer whose work has been acclaimed by The New Yorker, The New York Times, Huffington Post, The Paris Review and The Fox Is Black. A self-taught photographer, amongst Octavious's projects is "Black Archivist", involving the distribution of cameras and equipment to black photographers, providing them with a means to tell their story. 

Edoardo Tresoldi is an Italian artist, sculptor and stage designer, internationally known for his monumental sculptures made of wire mesh. He achieved international recognition through his reconstruction of the early Christian Basilica of Siponto. Included by Forbes in the list of Europe's most important under-30 artists in 2017, in 2018 he was invited to create a work for the famous Coachella festival. On his Instagram profile, he rightfully calls himself "the artist of the Absent Matter". 

Jan Hakon Erichsen is a contemporary Norwegian artist known for the short "destruction videos" he has been making since 2017. His Instagram profile features an extensive compilation. Elaborate methods of blowing up balloons, crushing dry pasta, household objects, bananas and knives are just a few of the main protagonists of his videos, exploiting social networks as new platforms for exhibiting art. 

Olek, a pseudonym for Agata Oleksiak, is a Polish artist and one of the leading exponents of "yarn bombing", or "urban knitting", a branch of graffiti art that involves covering objects in public places with knitted or crocheted fabrics or textiles. Olek also devotes herself to fiber art, sculptures, inflatables and performances: in 2010, she created the so-called "wearable sculptures" for a series of happenings in the New York underground. 

Martha Cooper is an American photojournalist born in the 1940s in Baltimore, Maryland. She worked as a photographer for the New York Post during the 1970s, documenting New York City’s graffiti scene from the 1970s and 1980s. In 1984, she published the book "Subway Art" with Henry Chalfant, acclaimed as the "bible" of graffiti art.

Andreas Wannerstedt is a Swedish 3D artist and art director, known for his three-dimensional works that "satisfy" and intrigue the viewer.  Wannerstedt creates hypnotic yet evocative 3D sculptures and loop animations and has been commissioned to create works for recognizable brands such as Google, Ikea, Coca-Cola, Spotify, COS, Adidas. His Instagram profile showcases a wide selection.

Felicia Chiao is an artist from San Francisco.She works as an industrial designer and at the same time dedicates herself to creating magical and alienating worlds and atmospheres on paper, with melancholic yet reassuring tones. Her Instagram profile collects many of her drawings, transporting users into the magic universe of the artist and her main character, in an almost intimate dimension.  

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Arca is a singer, songwriter, composer, DJ and performer, famous for collaborating with the likes of Björk, Kanye West, FKA twigs and Kelela. Irreverent, provocative and eclectic, she has transformed herself along with her art, in a process of artistic and personal metamorphosis that she made public on her Instagram profile. Experimentalism has accompanied Arca from the beginning and is still affecting the pop sounds of her latest album, 'KiCk i'. 

Michael Joseph Winkelmann, known as Beeple, is an American digital artist, graphic designer and animator. He is known for creating comic and phantasmagorical works that comment on political and social conditions through pop culture icons... but most notably for having sold his work "Everydays: The First 5000 days" for $69 million at a Christie's auction. 

Jessica Walsh is an American designer, art director, illustrator and educator. She was a partner at the design firm Sagmeister & Walsh and founder of &Walsh, a New York-based branding and advertising creative agency. Bright colours, eye-catching images and provocative messages populate her must-see Instagram profile. 

Cynthia Morris Sherman, known as Cindy, is an American artist, photographer and filmmaker, known for her conceptual self-portraits. She currently works in New York, where she produces works photographing herself in a variety of costumes, playing the most diverse characters. Many of these images are posted on her Instagram profile. Cindy Sherman does not manipulate her photos in any way (nothing to do with Instagram filters...).

Kaws, born Brian Donnelly, is an American artist and designer. His sculptures can be up to ten metres high and are made from a variety of materials including fibreglass, aluminium, wood and bronze. Kaws lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, where, in addition to creating sculptures, he creates acrylic paintings on canvas, silkscreen prints, limited edition toys, clothing, skateboards, always emphasizing lines, colour and graphics.

Takashi Murakami is a Japanese artist, sculptor and painter. One of the most acclaimed artists on the international scene, in 2008 he was defined as the most influential representative of Japanese culture by the Time. Born in Tokyo, he has always been passionate about manga and his aesthetic references come from Japanese pop culture and the Otaku phenomenon. In order to create his works, he employs serial reproduction techniques using digital models.

Joan Cornellà Vázquez, known simply as Joan Cornellà, is a Spanish illustrator and cartoonist. Everyone has come across his bitingly satirical cartoons online at least once. His Instagram profile presents a remarkable selection you should take a look at... as long as you do not take it personally.

JR is a French artist known for his extended use of the "photo collage" technique. He works in Paris and New York with a team of about fifteen people, and his Instagram profile offers amusing glimpses of his numerous trips around the world. JR calls himself a "photograffeur", a photographer and graffiti artist, who uses art to depict - and possibly change - the world. 

Ai WeiWei is a Chinese artist, designer, activist, architect and filmmaker. A selfie-lover and investigative journalist, his Instagram profile manages to combine the many souls of this multifaceted artist, son of Ai Qing, the revolutionary Chinese poet and opponent of Mao's regime. Ai WeiWei now lives in Portugal, where he devotes himself to nature and his cats, as shown by the numerous posts on his Instagram profile.