Solo artists all the rage

Philippe Mathonnet takes stock of the year in arts and finds that "it is stand-out artists working on their own who make the biggest splash these days" in the art world. He cites in particular Christo's installation of 7,500 orange gates in New York's Central Park, in January 2005. For Mathonnet, these exhibitions "have taken precedence over artistic collectives. As if, in displaying works of outsized proportions, you were somehow required, through a mirror effect, to flatter a sort of sanctification of the individual in the viewing public. It is a way of demonstrating that in this world where battles are becoming ever fiercer, each person has to fend for himself without relying on others. One can like or not like this position. But this way of seeing things has allowed some beautiful examples of life's trajectories and adventures to make their way into the 2005 appointment book."

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