Too Nice Not To Read, Too Boring Not to Be Anonymous: artnotnet

“Lowercase is more comfortable to read for longer answers, but all caps is certainly doable,” I wrote to artnotnet over Instagram. “THANK YOU FOR BEING SO THOUGHTFUL,” they responded. Thoughtful is a leading descriptor for the new-ish Instagram account that spreads light in and sheds light on the art world by posting art news with a positive, or at the very least, neutral spin. “WE WISH WE WERE IN SANTA FE” is the opening statement of a 6-image post about the 12th Site Santa Fe International that closes with a wistful “WE THINK GEORGIA O’KEEFE WOULD BE PROUD.” When I asked over DM if I could interview them, their response was resoundingly positive, but clear in their boundaries: “WHAT A LOVELY MESSAGE TO RECEIVE. WE ARE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS VIA DM SINCE WE ARE ANONYMOUS.”

Annie Armstrong’s Wet Paint on March 7th, 2025 criticized anonymous art accounts on Instagram—”wear your snark on your sleeve,” she begged artnotnet, Diva Corp, and The Art Daddy. (artnotnet’s elated response was: “ WE LOVED IT. BEING ANONYMOUS GOT US ENOUGH ATTENTION TO BE FEATURED IN THE REAL ARTNET.”) In my capacity as Cultbytes editor-in-chief, it has been extremely difficult to find art writers who want to write negative critiques. It isn’t worth getting in trouble with artists, gallerists, or PR people to publish a $125 honorarium review, understandably. I would say that the outsize importance of the art market creates a misguided call for positive critique to support artists. But also, as Clynton Lowry of arthandlermag commented in a 2018 interview, when money is jeopardized, “The anger is real.” He continues: “I know I’ve pissed off a lot of people along the way, directly or indirectly—people who see what I’m doing as reckless or bad for business. Of course, you’re not going to please everyone, and you know everything in this world is about pleasing the client.”

Although I respect artnotnet’s will to remain anonymous, I think there is a problem within the field when writers on both ends of the critical spectrum—negative and positive—choose to be anonymous. But I do think anonymity should be safeguarded. A strong voice risks not only critique (which should be fine) but also cyberbullying, threats of lawsuits, and being ostracized or excluded from both social and professional circles (which are all an overreach)—everyone, do better.

Hilde Lynn Helphenstein led a new genre of art-memesters with her acerbic, revelatory, and witty memes published under her moniker Jerry Gogosian, anonymously, before she was outed. It was Sarah Thornton’s Seven Days in the Art World meets a gossip rag. The account was unpopular amongst many gallerists, a group which she criticized and often ridiculed. The gallery girls Zoe and Chloe, represented by pictures of the Olsen twins, were leaders in this satirical category. But she was highly supportive of artists as she uncovered the inner workings of the upper echelons of the art market and the economics of art school education. Her recent shuttering of the account left a void in my feed, so I decided to explore the new guard. The Art Daddy (who did not want to be interviewed at this time) is doing a great job of being snarky, gossip-y, and a little sexy with its focus on old and desirable men in the art world. (In my mind, however, the daddy is a dinosaur of a concept; women are now in the lead). Diva Corp, similar to Sean Tatol’s blog, Manhattan Art Review, reports on shows, often negatively, but from LA. Both extend beyond Instagram to Substack and guest writing in CULTURED, among others (former) and a physical magazine (latter). For them, anonymity (or the guise of it) functions as a tool to allow the punch of the content to push through.

Conversational and supportive, artnotnet is definitely not snarky. On the contrary, as they wrote to Cultbytes, “WE ONLY WANT TO BE A SOURCE OF HAPPY (OR AT SOMETIMES NEUTRAL, FACT REPORTING NEWS. THERE IS TOO MUCH NEGATIVITY IN THE WORLD & ART WORLD TODAY. FOR US, ART IS SUPPOSED TO BRING ESCAPISM AND REPRIEVE FROM THE EVERYDAY SADNESS OF THE WORLD.” Their reason for remaining anonymous? So that there is more focus on their content, which is more interesting than their, in their own words, boring IRL selves. “BEING REVEALED WOULD BE TOO MUCH OF A DISAPPOINTMENT,” they write, with what I read as a little bit of cheek.

Like a love letter, artnotnet launched on February 14th, 2025, on Valentine’s Day. Inspired by Beka Gvishiani’s account, stylenotcom, who they cite as an inspiration, their aesthetic is on point, consisting of declarative and condensed news published in all caps sans serif white text on a lime green background. The name is cute too, a play on Artnet. stylenotcom has 495K followers, and artnotnet follow count is at 6,565, which isn’t bad given the difficulty to grow with Instagram’s changing algorithms, the fact that art is much more niche than fashion, and given their anonymity. Unlike Gvishiani, who is a veritable influencer, appearing at fashion shows and extending his reach beyond his account, like with his Capsule collection for Zara, artnotnet makes anonymity their aesthetic by simply communicating through their social media content, foregoing politics around their own identity.

They chose not to comment on how they source content, but they confirmed not having yet broken any news stories or being offered money to publish news on their platform. So, I would guess, based on their content, that they source it through published news articles (much of it from Artnet), other Instagram accounts (like the republishing of art advisor Lara A. Björk’s call for the art world to rest in August), and press releases. As they grow in popularity, tips and sponsored content might come in—to this, they responded: “GOALS.”

Try following artnotnet to see if they follow you back—they tell me that they love all the 3,000+ accounts that they follow, including Karen Vidangos of @latinainmuseums and the Guggenheim’s social media manager, Annie Armstrong, to the head of the Open Society Foundation, Alexander Soros, as well as yours truly, phew! They unfollow accounts that “SPEW ART WORLD NEGATIVITY.” Apart from that, they are really not that catty: “WE ARE JUST FLATTERED WHEN SOMEONE FOLLOWS US OR ENGAGES WITH US. VERY SIMPLE,” they explain.

When asked about founding the account, they wrote: “OUR BRAINS WERE TOO OVERWHELMED WITH ART WORLD NOISE AND WE WANT TO PROVIDE BRIEF MOMENTS OF ABBREVIATED REPRIEVE FOR OUR COMMUNITY.” Amidst overall anxieties around doomscrolling and fears of brain rot while using Instagram, artnotnet’s community-affirming takes on the art news cycle are uplifting. Scroll easily—sometimes a friendly take is the hottest take out there.

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