 | Sunday, December 12, 2021 | |  | Sunday, December 12, 2021 | | Hi, art lovers! | | | The year isn’t over yet, but I think we’ve wrapped our last week of “ordinary” content at CBC Arts. From now until the ball drops, I suspect everyone here will be overthinking the same assignment, namely deciding the one true meaning of 2021. Oh yes. We will be recapping the year’s top trends very soon. And in times of uncertainty, perhaps it’s a comfort to know that some pillars of civilization remain unshaken, even if what counts as tradition is an annual spate of pop culture listicles.
So just out of curiosity, how would you fill in the blank to this question? 2021 was the year of … what exactly?
Last week, CBC Music declared 2021 the year of healing. (They’ve cranked out lists of the year’s best Canadian albums and songs as well.)
But there are, of course, so many more clickable labels to choose from. Was it the year of the NFT (or just the crypto bros who swindled artists to mint them)? A year when theatre still mattered, lockdown be damned (shout-out to CBC’s 21 Black Futures)? Was it the year of the breakup album? Or just Olivia Rodrigo? (Don’t answer that before watching her new Tiny Desk Concert. You’re welcome.) Was it the year of cheugy, even if you don’t know how to pronounce it? The year of dark academia and the Y2K revival and more documented microesthetics than any previous era? A year of infinite vibes, including one that is, quite fittingly, a carryover from 2020: liminal spaces?
What’s your take? You know how to share it.
Watch for our year-in-review coverage starting this week.
| | | And because we promised you eye candy ... | | |  | Wilf Perreault | 4:30 p.m. in December vibes. Painting by Wilf Perreault. See more from him at Edmonton’s Peter Robertson Gallery through Dec. 23. | | | | |  | @nessleee/Instagram | | (Literally) big in 2021: art by Ness Lee. Check out this view from her current exhibition (with Florence Yee) at the Varley Art Gallery of Markham. (Catch it until Jan. 2.) | | | | |  | @david_woodward/Instagram | | Collage by David Woodward, a Toronto-based artist whose work will be appearing at the DesignTO festival in the new year. I’m still making my way through their just-announced 2022 schedule. Loads of compelling events as always. | | | | |  | @hattiestewart/Instagram | | Fresh off the press and straight to your eyeballs, Toronto’s Colour Code print studio has published a new book from U.K. illustrator Hattie Stewart, From One Universe To Another. | | | | |  | @rjdodgson/Instagram | | Find more oddly pleasant pencil-crayon forms like this on Ryan Dodgson’s Instagram. (He happens to be part of a quirky toy-centric group exhibition at Toronto’s Toutoune Gallery right now.) | | | | |  | @ambivalentlyyours/Instagram | | | | | Whether they make T-shirts or prints or even bespoke wallpaper, these Canadian artists run their own product lines to pay the bills. But there's more to the grind than selling cute swag. | | | | |  | | AEW | | | | | The Winnipeg-born wrestler compares his craft to episodic television or a night out at the theatre. | | | | |  | CBC Arts | | | | | Listen to this poem instead. Mahlikah Awe:ri Enml'ga't Saqama'sgw features in the newest episode of Poetic License. | | | | |  | @jeaninebrito/Instagram | | The Artist Dressing for Cooler Temperatures, a 2021 painting by Jeanine Brito. (Very relatable content.) | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time! | | | | | |
