Meet the 26-year-old entrepreneurs using Instagram to build an art empire from scratch

Aged just 23, two recent university graduates, Joe Kennedy and Jonny Burt, decided it was time to set up an art gallery. More important than their initial 300- square-foot pop-up space in Chiswick, London next to a butcher's shop, was the pair's determination to exploit the power of Instagram.

Three years on, they've developed an online network of young, international buyers from Hong Kong, the Middle East and the US and they have a 4,000-square-foot gallery in Soho, London. They now have plans to expand internationally and turn The Unit into the first major art gallery franchise.

"Most museums and art galleries still think of social media as a plaything for narcissistic teenagers who want to take photos of their breakfast. They don't take it seriously as a commercial tool," Kennedy told Business Insider.

Burt and Kennedy take social media very seriously. Their last show Paintguide - "the first Instagram curated art exhibition" - brought together 61 artists from around the world who had all built their reputations on Instagram. Savvy almost the point of cynicism, the duo recognized the "huge PR value" of the exposure that comes from an exhibition featuring artists that have hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers. Joe and Jonny even have celebrity support from the likes of Jude Law, Bob Geldof, and Jean Paul Gautier.

Since they are doing a good job of dragging the fine art world into in the 21st century, Business Insider decided it was time to interview them, while having a look round their Soho gallery.