My Favorite Art of 2022 (So Far)

As we head into the second half of 2022, I’m reflecting on some of my favorite things in art world. Honestly, these things have kept me sane. Anyhow, here goes:

12. Kate Folk’s very weird story collection Out There

11. Alison Krauss and Robert Plant’s Tiny Desk concert for NPR, which technically came out at the end of 2021, but is still in heavy rotation by me

10. Bartees Strange’s single “Heavy Heart”

9. Charles Dodd White’s heartbreaking and deeply-moving essay collection, A Year Without Months, that explores southern masculinity, guns, and suicide

8. Ghost Church & The Trojan Horse Affair podcasts

7. Becky Chambers’ Monk & Robot novels

6. Outstanding albums from Kendrick Lamar, Angel Olsen, Zach Bryant, & Big Thief

5. The resurgence of Marcel the Shell

4. The wild season finale (mainly Apple TV’s slow-building masterpiece Severance, but also a shoutout to Strange Things, 4.5 for hitting its mark)

3. ABC’s Abbott Elementary

2. Chris Ware’s very timely “House Divided” cover at the New Yorker

1. Sequoia Nagamatsu’s masterful novel, How High We Go in the Dark, which captures grief and loss absolutely authentically—and, somehow, beautifully…