Artist Jeff Koons’ famous sculptures may look like they’re made out of balloons — but the works are actually fragile, as one art fair visitor discovered Thursday when she knocked over a $42,000 Koons piece and smashed it .
A blue balloon dog sculpture created by Koons shattered into tiny pieces when a visitor accidentally kicked the podium, according to the gallery that houses the piece.
Bel-Air Fine Art displayed the piece at its booth at Art Wynwood, a contemporary art fair in Miami.
In a statement emailed to CNN, the gallery’s district director, Cédric Boero, who ran Art Wynwood’s booth, told CNN that the gallery was “one of the official representatives for Jeff Koons’ famous balloon dog sculptures.” acts.
“Obviously it’s heartbreaking to see such an iconic piece destroyed,” Boero said.
He said the piece fell after an unnamed art collector visiting the stand accidentally kicked the pedestal during the fair’s opening cocktail hour Thursday night.
“The collector never intended to break the sculpture, in fact she never touched it with her hands,” he said. “It was the opening cocktail, a lot of people were at our stand, she unwittingly gave a small kick to the base, enough to make the sculpture fall.”
“Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens, so the artwork was insured,” he said.
The gallery shared photos of the sculpture, reduced to scraps of ceramic and lying on the floor. According to the gallery, the pieces are currently waiting in a box to be examined by an insurance expert. Bel-Air Fine Arts added that some collectors have offered to buy the broken pieces.
The 2021 piece was titled “Balloon Dog (Blue)” and was valued at around $42,000, according to an email from Bel-Air Fine Art. The sculpture was made of porcelain and measured 40 x 48 x 16 cm. A total of 799 editions of the sculpture were made.
Koons and Art Wynwood did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Koons’ balloon animal figures are among the most iconic – and most expensive – sculptures in the contemporary art world. His pieces have fetched staggering amounts at auction: Rabbit (1986) sold for $91 million at Christie’s New York in 2019, and Balloon Dog (Orange) (1994-2000) sold for $58.4 six years earlier million dollars sold.
He has created hundreds of depictions of the balloon dogs, some towering over 10 feet tall and others just over a foot tall, like the sculpture that was shattered.
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