6 Art World Trends to Watch in 2022
Here are 6 trends worth noting as we go into 2022:
Texture: After nearly two years of spending more time than ever on screens, people are craving tactile stimuli. Collectors will continue to gravitate towards paintings with layers as well as sculpture, ceramics and textiles. (Note: given its material nature, this type of work tends not to translate effectively to JPG so it is good to see it in person).
Figurative Painting: portraiture, often made by talented young Black artists, who are a part of a Black Renaissance will continue to dominate blue-chip sales. Worth noting, however, the market appetite is growing and making space for more abstract, specifically Surrealist, work.
LatinX and Asian Artists will gain due recognition: The Armory recently announced a LatinX focus for its 2022 edition and the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University will hold three exhibitions in 2022 with a focus on Asian artists as part of its newly founded Asian American Art Initiative, all pointing towards further broadening the traditional canon of art history.
New sales models: The traditional brick-and-mortar gallery model isn’t going away, but it’s been interesting to see smaller galleries collaborate and hold joint-venue exhibitions, sometimes merging to form new entities, and sometimes presenting exclusively digital exhibitions. Further, some emerging artists have established direct to market sales, forgoing gallery representation all together. The rise of NFTs (see below) also presents interesting opportunities for transactions of physical work.
NFTs: We will continue to see the growth of NFTs as more artists from the traditional art world explore the possibilities of using this nascent medium. I am looking forward to following NFTs in 2022 and seeing further innovation in this space, particularly around the environmental questions around crypto. Here’s a basic explanation of NFTs as they relate to the art space.
Nature + Sustainability: Artists will continue to look to nature for inspiration and many continue to tackle themes of climate change and other environmental concerns through their work. For a brilliant example of this, see Rachelle Reichert’s work which is made using salt from the San Francisco Bay to bring attention to flooding, global warming, and pollution.
Che Lovelace, Caribbean Artist, 2016, acrylic and dry pigment on panel board panels, 50 x 60 inches