A $42,000 limited edition blue porcelain balloon dog sculpture by world-renowned artist Jeff Koons has been smashed by an art collector in downtown Miami.
The lustrous, electric-blue sculpture was on display at the Bel-Air Fine Art booth Thursday during the Art Wynwood contemporary art fair.
The footage shows the dismay of art lovers who couldn’t seem to take their eyes off the costly accident.
Stephen Gamson, a Wynwood-based artist and art collector, filmed the aftermath of the incident and told the Miami Herald that the destroyed piece turned out to be the most popular attraction.
A $42,000 limited edition blue porcelain balloon dog sculpture by world-renowned artist Jeff Koons has been smashed by an art collector in downtown Miami
Koons, an American artist known for his pop culture references and depictions of everyday objects, has one of his highest-priced artworks sold – his sculpture “Rabbit” – for $91.1 million
“When this thing fell on the ground, it was like a car crash drawing a huge crowd onto the freeway,” Gamson said.
Viewers marveled at the smashed pieces of china strewn on the floor of the Miami art space in the video.
Some say “this is exciting,” while others jump over the destroyed artwork to avoid creating more debris of electric blue porcelain.
A spectator expressed emotion at the site of the broken sculpture, while a woman commented, “You see now, this is the new art installation, everything is art.”
“It’s the most popular booth at the whole show,” Gamson is heard saying to the woman offscreen as he continues to pan the scene.
Exhibition staff were seen asking people to “step back” from the piece, when a viewer offered to buy part of the smashed object, commenting “if you want to sell the tail”.
“I can’t believe someone knocked on it over 2 minutes ago,” another viewer can be heard saying, a noticeable note of confusion in his tone.
“At least it’s not a Ming vase,” said another.
The small sculpture is then carefully swept away by staff while the crowd begins to disappear.
Koons, an American artist known for his pop culture references and depictions of everyday objects, has one of his highest-priced artworks sold – his sculpture “Rabbit” – for $91.1 million.
Gamson, a Koons fan, was walking through Art Wynwood with a friend when he spotted the blue balloon dog sculpture perched on an acrylic stand.
Viewers marveled at the smashed pieces of china strewn on the floor of the Miami art space in the video
Exhibition staff were seen asking people to “step back” from the piece, when a viewer offered to buy part of the smashed object, commenting “if you want to sell the tail”.
The small sculpture is then carefully swept away by staff while the crowd begins to disappear
“It was really the star of this booth,” he told the outlet.
The art lover said he pointed out the sculpture to a friend when he saw an elderly woman pound on the sculpture, knocking it off the pedestal and loudly breaking it into pieces.
Gamson said he believes the woman tapped the sculpture because she was curious if it was a real balloon and learned the hard way it wasn’t.
Bénédicte Caluch, art consultant at Bel-Air Fine Art, told the Miami Herald that the expensive artwork is insured.
The woman was an art collector who didn’t want to break the piece, Caluch said, saying of the ordeal, “It was an event!”
“Everyone came to see what happened. It was like when Banksy’s artwork was shredded.”
Gamson approached Caluch and offered to buy the broken pieces.
“I find it valuable even if it’s broken,” Gamson said. “For me, it’s the story. That makes the art even more interesting.”
‘ I said, ‘For 15 million dollars? Yes!” Caluch joked, offering to sell him an intact piece instead.
Koons created cheesy pornographic depictions of himself and his Italian pornstar wife, spent 20 years perfecting a sculpture of a giant lump of Play-Doh, and even considered Michael Jackson and his chimp Bubbles a worthy artistic subject.
The popular artist has polarized opinion like no other contemporary artist and is a purveyor of mundane gimmicks whose talent is far outstripped by his salesmanship, according to his many critics.
Others revere him as an American genius who they claim had a seminal impact on contemporary art.
Koons Balloon Dog (Blue) is made from porcelain and is a limited edition piece
Koon’s art included Puppy, a 43-foot-tall West Highland Terrier covered in live flowers, and Play-Doh, a 10-foot-tall colorful mountain made from children’s modeling clay
Koons has polarized opinion like no other contemporary artist. He’s a purveyor of mundane gimmicks whose talent is far outweighed by his salesmanship, many critics say
The late respected art critic Robert Hughes claimed that Koons “couldn’t carve his name on a tree”.
He was particularly angry that Koons doesn’t make his objects himself, instead letting his 148-strong team of assistants do it.
Skeptics liken Koons to pop artist Andy Warhol, who famously said, “Art is what you can get away with.”
Koons’ art includes Puppy, a 43-foot-tall West Highland Terrier covered in live flowers, and Play-Doh, a 10-foot-tall, multi-colored child’s clay mountain that’s made of aluminum and he said was made by something his toddler inspired was made son.
The son of an interior designer, Koons showed money-making from an early age by selling candy and wrapping paper door-to-door.
He began taking art classes at the age of seven, and by the age of nine he was painting copies of old masters, which his father sold in his showroom.
Koons was studying art in Maryland when he fathered a child with a fellow student. The child was put up for adoption by the girl’s parents.
Koons claims he was looking for fame in part because his “visibility” would help his daughter find him. They met decades later after she came of age and are now close.
After moving to New York, he produced works of art, including inflatable plastic toys on mirrors and kitchen appliances in brightly lit glass cases.
In 1991, Koons married La Cicciolina, an Italian porn star whose real name was Ilona Staller. She was also an Italian MP who once offered to have sex with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein
A photo of Koons wearing a paper bib and plastic flowers in his New York City apartment in 1978, which he described as “an environment with lots of plastic, inflatables, and mirrors.”
These were funded by a high-pressure job on Wall Street. His first major art hit was a 1988 show called Banality, which featured porcelain figurines of a near life-size Michael Jackson and Bubbles, and another half-naked blonde embracing the Pink Panther.
In 1991, Koons married La Cicciolina, an Italian porn star whose real name was Ilona Staller. She was also an Italian MP who once offered to have sex with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein if he freed hostages.
After seeing her in a porn magazine, Koons flew to Rome and after one of her infamous stage performances, went backstage with a live snake.
He persuaded her to collaborate on a controversial series of sculptures and paintings called Made In Heaven, in which he was naked and she was barely clothed.
One piece had an unprintable name – another, Silver Fish – was a frontal portrait of Staller’s genitals, framed by a pair of her fishnet stockings.
Critics were appalled, but Koons insisted it wasn’t pornography because “having sex with love is a higher state.”
He ignored the advice of friends and family and married her. They celebrated by posing in front of glass sculptures of themselves in tantric positions at a New York gallery.
In 1992 they had a son, Ludwig, but split the following year, partly because Staller refused to quit porn.
Staller brought the then 18-month-old Ludwig back to Italy, in violation of a court order and alleging that Koons physically and mentally abused her.
Koons claimed that he was a child kidnapping victim and fought a decade-long but sadly unsuccessful legal battle that cost him millions of dollars.
The artist has six other children by his second wife, South African artist Justine Wheeler
Koon’s 2004 Balloon Dog, which sold for $58.4 million, is one of his many works to draw criticism
He was so angry with his ex-wife that he destroyed any remaining works he had from their Made In Heaven collaboration.
He said he poured his worries into his art in the 1990s, basing much of his work on children’s toys, including the balloon dogs.
Koons said he hoped his absent son would see her and know he was thinking of him.
The artist has six other children by his second wife, South African artist Justine Wheeler.