As we have now entered a new year and settled into it, it is time to consider those resolutions and redecorating ideas on the list. If you already own an art collection, it may be time to refresh them and add a few pieces from the latest trending art by newer artists. Let's take a look at some of the trends to watch out for in 2022!

Crypto Art

In 2021, NFTs had a significant impact on the art world, and this trend is expected to continue in 2022. Museums and cultural institutions, on the other hand, have fallen behind, despite the fact that they are now ubiquitous. It's understandable, too. This is for a variety of reasons, including copyright preservation and authorship problems. In the meanwhile, a lot has been written about museums and NGOs, from how they may collaborate to whether museums should participate in non-profits at all.

Of course, this isn't to suggest that museums haven't taken an interest in NFTs and crypto art. The British Museum, for example, teamed with the company LaCollection.io to sell NFTs of Katsushika Hokusai's masterpieces last year. Other museums and organizations have held panel discussions and speeches to address important NFT concerns.

Street Art

Street art has also become a more significant issue, maybe as a consequence of a growth in more regionally focused art efforts, as well as outdoor displays, as a result of closures and limitations during the epidemic.

Last year, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence announced the acquisition of its first piece of street art, a self-portrait by the UK-based artist Endless, which will be shown alongside the gallery's Renaissance collection.

Part of the current discussion over public murals and street art revolves around how to maintain them, especially in the context of protest art made as part of the worldwide push for social justice and equality.

Textile Art

Textile art has been proposed as a potential focus area in 2022. Textile art is said to blur the limits between disciplines such as sculpting, performance, and sketching. It goes against cultural conventions and, more importantly, the digital world.

Textile art, on the other hand, engages with some very current issues and ambitions, such as climate change, the importance of upcycling, and eco and conscientious material usage.

Artists are using recycled and environmentally friendly materials to create textile work in new and fascinating ways. Rosana Escobar, for example, creates carpets and tapestries out of fique fibers left over from the creation of coffee bags.

Figurative Art

Figurative painting has had a comeback in recent years, and 2022 will see significant exhibits by well-known figures in the field at venues all around the world. Young and rising artists are also using painting to explore the body in order to explore topics such as identity, cultural history, personal narratives, and more.

2022 may be remembered as the year of figurative painting's return, owing to a need to recognize individuals, signals, or events, heightened by the post-pandemic period - a desire to become tactile. The younger generation is taking control, addressing the current, and evoking emotional responses from the audience. While the art world embraces NFTs, we may sense a desire for tangible concepts. It's possible that's a figurative artwork.

The increased development of this trend could indicate a renewed focus on the lived experience of bodies, resulting not only from the pandemic, but also from international protests and discourse around police brutality and institutionalized racism, which raises issues of representation and visibility.

Through this article we only look at a few trends, but there are many more to be explored and discovered.

Manesha Pieris