Balloon Dog...

A female art collector at a contemporary art fair in Miami accidentally shattered a $42,000 sculpture by artist Jeff Koons. Witnesses at the annual Art Wynwood event said a woman tapped a blue version of Koons' iconic "Balloon Dog" with her finger, causing it to topple over and break.
That may not be the whole story as it was reported, a representative for the gallery hosting the porcelain artwork said the woman unintentionally kicked the pedestal where the sculpture was placed.

The size of the Balloon Dog was approximately 15" x 18" x 6" or 40cm x 48cm x 16cm and from a news link, Koons' balloon figures are some of the most expensive contemporary art pieces sold by a living artist. Balloon Dog (Orange) from his 1994-2000 series sold for $58.4 million six years ago.

Hopefully, the sculpture was insured. No reports on what happened to the woman who broke it and if she will face criminal charges, as it's standard practice for art galleries to warn visitors not to touch the displays.


Link:


Reader comments:
Jack " This has been a bad couple of weeks for balloons. Even porcelain ones."

Kdawg "...and this one didn't require a $400K sidewinder missile to bring it down!"

sharon "Looks like something that can easily be made in China for about ten bucks"

bob "Don't get me wrong, the piece is beautiful. But $42,000 dollars? Sorry, I can make an actual balloon animal with metallic balloons for $5.37 cents, it can fall of a pedestal and not break, and not make me broke. While I can consider what he does "art", I can not understand spending that much money on what essentially is a ceramic."

william "Let's put the fragile breakable 42k art piece on a small tall skinny platform within everyone's reach.........what's the worst that could happen?"

j "So they have a $42,000 sculpture and they just balance it on a small podium with no way to secure it and no glass over it? Seems to me it is more likely a $30 sculpture insured for $42,000 so they could make easy money when someone has an accident."

Blue "It’s a $10 knickknack at best. If it had any value, it would have been in a display case."