While the intrepid and adventurous cultural anthropologist *Uri O’Reight II really wanted to insert their Power Point presentation here, I convinced them that this bullet text and commentary is plenty.
          *O’Reight II visited thousands of artworks in galleries, museums, homes, and business settings. They investigated art as landscape, figurative, ultra-representational [photorealism], ho-hum, abstract, and very abstract as how it attracted people and concluded the following:
• Landscape; people want to be somewhere else, anyplace but here; shows a need for escape.
• Figurative; possible loneliness; a need for touch, sex, bonding, especially if voluptuous nudes are involved.
• Ultra-representational; visiting an ophthalmologist may be habitual; need for focus.
• Ho-hum; probably the person didn’t invest much in this and neither did the artist; needs purpose.
• Abstract; attracts the thoughtful type, people who are adventurous, mellow, expansive, cheerful, enthusiastic, vigorous, clearheaded, fulfilled, curious, calm, empowered, and hopeful; needs play.
• Very Abstract; ditto as above and may be excellent subjects to colonize Mars; needs freedom.

*Uri also wishes to make the point that “was excellently presented in 82 slides in our Power Point presentation,” that they find the idea of decorating a living space according to the colors in a painting “Totally absurd!”
              *Uri believes “A painting, no matter how lovely, is STATIC. Living life is NOT static or if it is there might be other problems to address. To hang some art done in a quiet palette of browns and creams with a tiny flash of orange, maybe for a slice of sunset, and then to match it with maybe a soft brownish rug, beige sofa and cream chairs, brown pet dog (maybe a Spaniel), and velvet orange sofa pillow in hopes of harmony and total control is horrid. The dog and painting can stay but really people? Open up the place.
                Or of course you could select a wild painting and let fly.”
 
And two more points from our intrepid cultural anthropologist *Uri:
 
• Unless you’re hanging art in a public realm, or even if you are but it’s your office or store, hang it where you want. It does not have to be at “eye level.” Some things work better above or below. Change it up, see how its engagement changes you and it. Crouch down, stand on a chair. You’ll love it!  The Arakawa hanging system works great for this, avoiding a buckshot hole-y wall.
 
• An excellent portrait will say who a person truly is, but hanging portraits of people you don’t know is stupid. You want strangers staring at you all the time? Weird.
 
 
*reserves the right to change their opinion

While we have a couple weeks before shouting “Happy New Year!” and welcoming 2022 with bright hopes—perhaps of lessened global pandemic woes, moderate climate disasters matched with extreme response to interrupt human-based climate change, and/or a halt to our crumbling democracy—more significantly, here’s where we’ve been with artmsr.com and the business of art in year two of the pandemic and since our last New Year’s celebration:
 
The website entertained almost 10,000 “Unique Visitors” who visited almost 24,000 pages. Most (57.6%) got there via Google Chrome, although 6.2% fell under “? Unknown.”
 
The cost of doing business includes art supplies, computer programs, equipment, responding to calls for art, research, entertainment, shipping, packaging, studio upkeep, mileage, and the web site. For 2021 the Response to Calls for Art were down about 75% from normal (11 call responses); business mileage (125 miles) was down even more (from 95% of normal). We did manage a few donations to various cultural institutions. Workshop costs were noticeably lower (50-80%) and included a special workshop “Career Documentation for Visual Artists” that led to all kinds of extra effort. Of course the workshops were Zoomed.
 
All in all this worked out to presenting 75 new artworks and 9 (including this one) blog posts here on the website. I have no idea how this might compare to other working artists since such details are rarely discussed.
 
Of the artworks, 52 were done on paper and considered drawings and 23 on canvas.  Twenty-eight went into the Geometric Gallery; 26 into Painterly; 2 into Fantasy/Narrative; 10 into the Minimalist Gallery; and 10 refused easy categorization and fell into the Other Gallery.
 
Sources of inspiration are somewhat covered in the May and June blogs “Gratitude” and “Sharing.” Since then we’ve also been inspired repeatedly by Rumi and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche’s book “In Love with the World.” Additional translations into abstract artworks have been inspired by Pema Chodron, Epicetus, several intuitive visions, Wise Heart, Alan Vargo, Nietzsche, Winston Churchill, Tobias Emery, Buddha, and Hugh Sidey after a conversation with Chelsea Emery.
 
Topics address life, chaos, why birds sing, perfection, community, judgements, feeling undone/off center, knitting, talent, character, art itself, a rumpled spirit, death, wrongdoing/rightdoing, future, personal loads, becoming, disruption/confusion, clouds, sheltered living, spring, tempers (lost),  stupidity, shadows, emptiness, knowing oneself, woe, social re-entry, joy and frustration, absurdity, struggle, ambiguity, seeing, centering, heat stress, acceptance, connecting the dots, despair, movement, uncertainty, beliefs, freedom, earthquake, friendship, caution, fear, self-portraits, humanity, sweet eyes, truth, gravity/control, light/shadow, nothing, amor fati, success, glory, being comfortable, and sense of humor.
 
It’s been a very full year. Hope you’ve enjoyed the ride. 2022 coming on up…..