According to numerous news sources, a visitor to a contemporary art fair in Miami unintentionally broke a $42,000 sculpture by artist Jeff Koons.
Witnesses at the annual Art Wynwood exhibition said that blue rendition of Jeff Koons’ famous “Balloon Dog” was knocked over and broken by a female art collector.
According to CNN, the woman “unintentionally kicked the pedestal” where the sculpture was set when she reached over to tap the sculpture, said a representative for the gallery that was hosting the piece.
Local artist and collector Stephen Gamson told the Miami Herald that he initially questioned whether shattering the blue sculpture that looks like it was made out of a balloon was a “performance” before realizing it was a genuine accident.
Gamson told the paper, “When this thing fell to the ground, it was like how a car accident draws a huge crowd on the highway.”
He also said the loss would be covered by insurance.
Guests gathered to see the small blue shards get swept up into a dustpan, according to Bénédicte Caluch, an art advisor with Bel-Air Fine Art galleries, who called the incident at the annual fair “an event.”
The New York Times quoted Cédric Boero, a gallery employee, as saying: “Life just stopped for 15 minutes with everyone around.” He said the person who destroyed the artwork was “really, very remorseful” and “just wanted to disappear.”
“Of course, it is heartbreaking to see such an iconic piece destroyed,” continued Boero, who was in charge of the Art Wynwood booth and served as the gallery’s district manager.
The sculpture was constructed of porcelain and measures 40 x 48 x 16 centimeters, according to the Bel-Air Fine Art website.
The sculpture, which ranges in size, comes in 799 editions.
Some of the most costly works of contemporary art are balloon figures by Jeff Koons.
In 2013, “Balloon Dog (Orange),” from his 1994–2000 series, brought in $58.4 million.
In 2019, “Rabbit,” one of Koons works from 1986, broke the record for the most expensive work of art ever sold by a living artist. Christie’s New York sold it for $91 million.
