“Please don’t touch the artwork.”
From time to time we are reminded why these signs are still needed in art galleries around the world.
A group of Miami art enthusiasts watched in horror when a collector accidentally knocked over a $42,000 sculpture by American pop artist Jeff Koons Thursday night.
The woman touched it with her finger, according to witnesses of the tragic event.
The image, one of the iconic “Dog balloons” (balloon dog) van Koons, broke into small fragments, which had to be swept up by gallery staff.
The accident happened during the VIP-only opening night of Art Wynwood, an annual contemporary art fair in Miami, Florida.
Local artist Stephen Gamson told the paper miami announces that she was admiring the statue when an “elderly woman” slapped and knocked her off the pedestal.
At first he wondered if this was all part of a show, but soon realized it was an accident.
“When this thing hit the ground, it was like a car accident that brought a huge crowd out on the road,” Gamson told the local paper.
“A whole event”
Fortunately for the woman, the piece is covered by insurance, explains Bénédicte Caluch, an art consultant for Bel-Air Fine Art Galleries who represents the image.
“It was quite an event!” Caluch told the miami announces. “Everyone came up let’s see what happened.”
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He added that the woman who caused the damage, who has not been identified, is an art collector.
“Life stood still for 15 minutes with everyone around,” he told the New York Times Cédric Boero, who also works for the Bel-Air Fine Art galleries.
“I Wanted To Disappear”
He noted that one of his colleagues spoke to the woman, who confessed that she was “very, very sorry” and “just wanted to disappear”.
The image has emerged part of a limited edition which has now been reduced from 799 to 798.
“That’s a good thing for collectors,” Boero told the New York Timessmiling.
Despite being broken into thousands of pieces, there are still buyers willing to purchase the destroyed statue.
Gamson offered to buy it on the spot because, as he said on his Instagram account, “it is really cool story”.
Jeff Koons, 68, has not commented on the incident.
His “Dog Balloons” sculptures are among the most iconic works of contemporary art and have been sold for tens of millions of dollars.
Some are huge, up to 10 feet tall, but the statue that was smashed was just a 16-inch-tall puppy.
“Dog Balloons” have been showcased in galleries around the world and became even more iconic thanks to Jay-Z in 2017, when the rapper worked directly with Koons to create an inflatable balloon dog for a stage.
In 2019, Koons made history when his “Rabbit” sculpture sold at auction for $91.1 million, the highest ever selling price for a living artist.
Source: Eluniverso
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