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# A Brief History of Kanye West’s Art Commentary on Twitter
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-brief-history-of-kanye-wests-art-commentary-on-twitter/
- Published: 2016-03-14T18:53:51.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:29:42.000Z
- Description: This morning, School of the Art Institute of Chicago honorary degree holder Kanye West proclaimed on Twitter: "My tweets are a form of contemporary art only compromised by people trying to tell me what to tweet and not to tweet..."
- Author: Benjamin Sutton
- Tags: Opinion, Kanye West, Twitter, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:17 (2016, 2017, part 1)

![Not-so artistic rendering of Kanye West tweeting on stage (illustration by the author for Hyperallergic)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2016/03/kanye-tweets-lede.jpg)

This morning, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) [honorary degree holder](http://hyperallergic.com/190950/is-the-school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago-really-giving-kanye-west-an-honorary-doctorate/) Kanye West [proclaimed](https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/709409643387297792?ref=hyperallergic.com) on Twitter: “My tweets are a form of contemporary art only compromised by people trying to tell me what to tweet and not to tweet…” The cryptic message was part of a series addressing his desire to [join Instagram](https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/709408385163268097?ref=hyperallergic.com), but only if he has complete creative freedom over what he would post there because, “[It’s my art](https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/709408940908486657?ref=hyperallergic.com).” He then [accused](https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/709410369459109888?ref=hyperallergic.com) his would-be Instagram handler of being a “Non artist trying to grab the paint brush.”

As any of West’s more than 20 million Twitter followers can tell you, if the social media platform is a canvas, he wields words like Jackson Pollock. His comments on art, not unlike [his remarks at the SAIC last year](http://hyperallergic.com/206224/choice-quotes-from-kanyes-address-at-the-school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago/), offer sweeping pronouncements on and cutting criticisms of the state of contemporary art, fashion, and music. Here, then, are some highlights from what will one day surely be a collected “Critical Writings of Kanye West.”

On the definition of art:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/699504037276864512

On the critical feedback offered by those around him:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/707993466089906177

On his own standing in the pecking order of living artists:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/702561799816790016

On his portrayal in mainstream media:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/697185038350360577

On the artist who has had the greatest influence on his work:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/699374444645494784

On the challenges of making political work:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/702561295321722882

On the similarities between art and McDonald’s:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/699308477785595904

On what motivates his practice:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/699307776195973121

On the state of arts patronage in the Bay Area:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/699108378891710464

On his relevant precursors in the history of art:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/699107322895994880

On the public pressures endured by artists:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/698147169182810112

On his censorship policy:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/698146073190252545

On the etymology and correct pronunciation of “zine”:

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/696813983945400324