2022: A Retrospective

2022 was a weird year for me. I continued to put a lot of things on hold in my ongoing effort to protect myself from COVID. Fortunately, my life did not come to a complete standstill this year. Here are some of the highlights, as well as my blog posts about them.

I was on TV.*
(*My episode was filmed in 2021 and aired in January 2022)

I was featured in Apartment Therapy.

I finally sold Cerulean Rhapsody, which I made 11 years ago.

Two years of living in a pandemic gave me a lot to think about in March

I went back to NeoCon for the first time since 2019

I saw a few good art shows, including Forothermore and Enter The Mirror at the MCA, and some at the Art Institute.

some of this year's new paintings

I made a lot of new artwork this year:

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/01/new-mini-collages.html

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/06/new-mini-collages-and-zazzle-products-i.html

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/06/fluminous-pink.html

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/06/electric-lettuce.html

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/06/enmeshment-in-green-blue-and-yellow.html

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/08/pandoras-aquarium-revisited.html

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/08/more-new-paintings-for-summer.html

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/09/phantom-galaxy.html

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/09/sea-of-waking-dreams.html

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/10/echoes-of-silver-whisper-2.html

I was in an introspective mood:

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/08/could-color-coordination-be-my-antidote.html

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/09/some-thoughts-on-my-useless-art-degree.html

I had to express my frustration with tech:

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/05/nft-not-for-tiffany.html

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/11/my-thoughts-on-twitters-turn-for-worse.html

And pandemic minimizers:

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/04/dont-threaten-me-with-good-time.html

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-tyranny-of-normal.html

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/06/inspired-by-one-way-masking-trend.html

And the Supreme Court:

https://tiffanygholar.blogspot.com/2022/06/if-you-dont-know-what-this-is-you-do.html

Chronologically last, but monumentally important to me, I have published my latest book, The Unforeseeable Future, just as the year is ending. I promised myself that I would put a book out in 2022 and am greatly relieved that I was able to reach my goal.

I have no idea what 2023 will bring, but I look forward to blogging about it here.

A last-minute book launch on the last day of the year

So the virtual book launch for The Unforeseeable Future is going to be tomorrow at noon! (Noon Chicago time, FYI) There were some unexpected delays, but that seems quite appropriate for the weird times we're living in. My latest mini-memoir covers the time span between 2019 and 2021, highlighting the artworks I made in those three years and what I wrote about them. My goal was to finish my fifth art book by the end of this year and I am so glad that I was able to do it just in time. I look forward to telling you more about it. Please click here to get all the details. 

The Tyranny of Normal collage

 

The Tyranny of "Normal"  | paper and ink on foam core board | 8"x10" | 2022

Let me begin by saying that this collage didn't turn out the way I hoped. I wanted to make it the traditional way, with paper cut from magazines. I dipped a COVID stamp from Etsy in red ink and acrylic paint and stamped the whole collage. But some of the paint got smeared and that was disappointing. Also, I really wanted to find images of people on public transportation and airplanes. I am considering making a digital collage, too, so that I can more easily access those images.

But enough about what this collage isn't. I should write about what it is. It's a companion piece to the blog post I wrote a few months ago. It's a manifestation of my frustration with the inadequate messaging about the risks of COVID. It's about people pretending that everything is normal. It's about people living in a fool's paradise of denial. And all around them, COVID is in the air, just waiting for a warm body to infect.