Jakarta –
How sad are the artists and galleries that exhibit sculptures ‘balloon dog’ This. This iconic statue crumbles to the floor after being touched by a visitor.
Summarized from Guardian, Friday (24/2/2023) artist Jeff Koons’ shiny blue ‘balloon dog’ shattered to pieces during the opening of an art exhibition in Miami last Thursday. This happened because one of his guests knocked on the surface of the statue.
The incident occurred at the Bel-Air Fine Arts gallery during the opening of the VIP-only Art Wynwood contemporary art exhibition. This art statue has a value of USD 42,000 or around IDR 636 million.
This iconic balloon dog statue sits atop its pedestal bearing the name of its creator Koon. However, an unidentified art collector knocks on the statue and sends it crashing into pieces.
All visitors were surprised and immediately turned their attention to this broken statue.
“When this thing hit the ground, it was like a car crash that pulled a large crowd on the highway,” said art collector Stephen Gamson.
Information for travelers, Koon is a painter and sculptor who likes to take inspiration from everyday objects, including balloon animals. His works challenge notions of what art is, but have been auctioned for as much as USD 91 million.
Not only one, Koon has made sculptures of ‘balloon dogs’ with various bright colors and various sizes. However, this is not the first time one of his dogs has been crushed. In 2016, a mini version of a balloon dog in magenta fell from a display case during the Design Miami show.
The statue fell because the pedestal was accidentally touched
Quoted from CNNGallery District Manager, Cédric Boero, who runs the Art Wynwood booth, said the gallery served as one of the official representatives for Jeff Koons’ famous balloon dog sculpture.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see such an iconic work destroyed,” said Boero.
He said the piece fell after a collector visited the booth and accidentally knocked against the pedestal of the statue.
“The collector never intended to damage the statue, he never even touched it with his hands,” he said.
“It was the opening cocktail, a lot of people were in our booth, he accidentally hit the pedestal, which was enough to cause the statue to fall,” he said.
The gallery shares photos of the statue reduced to ceramic pieces lying on the floor. The pieces are currently waiting in the box to be evaluated by an insurance expert. Bel-Air Fine Arts added that several collectors have offered to buy the damaged pieces.
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