Jeff Koons is an American contemporary artist who is most popular for depicting everyday objects and balloon animals which are actually made out of stainless steel and mirror-finish surfaces. The balloon animals, especially, are sold for millions of dollars. For example, the orange-coloured Balloon Dog was sold for 58.4 million USD back in 2013 while in 2019, the Balloon Rabbit was sold for 91.1 million USD.
View this post on Instagram
His blue-coloured ‘Balloon Dog’ was recently exhibited at Art Wynwood, a contemporary art fair in Miami. According to Times Now, it was 16 inches tall and 19 inches long.
View this post on Instagram
However, one woman allegedly wanted to check if the art piece was actually a balloon. So she tapped it with her finger. Somehow, the piece lost its balance, fell to the ground, and broke into multiple pieces. It was worth approximately Rs 34 lakh (42,000 USD).
Here’s a look at the video:
Enough to give you an art attack! Collector shatters $42,000 Jeff Koons dog sculpture at Miami art fair after she tapped it to see if it was a BALLOON and knocked it off stand. https://t.co/TjF9UhbqJZ pic.twitter.com/vS3YDd5N57
— Molly Ploofkins™ (@Mollyploofkins) February 18, 2023
According to BBC, the culprit was an “older woman” who is an art collector. Thankfully, the artwork is covered by insurance. The woman, who is unnamed, apologized for the accident multiple times and told an employee of the gallery that she just wanted to disappear.
“Life just stopped for 15 minutes with everyone around,” said Cédric Boero, who also works for Bel-Air Fine Art galleries.
Jeff Koons didn’t make any comment regarding the incident, yet.
How horrifying!