A woman gave a small sculpture by the well-known artist Jeff Koons, which was worth $42,000, a little tap on the first night of an art fair in Miami. The sculpture broke. Thursday, during the VIP-only opening of the Art Wynwood contemporary arts fair, the incident happened at the Bel-Air Fine Art gallery. The blue sculpture was part of Koons' famous "balloon dog" series. It was sitting on a pedestal with the artist's name on it when an unnamed art collector tapped it. The sculpture then fell to the floor and broke into pieces. Aftermath as guests gathered around the broken glass. Some of them thought it might have been performance art or a stunt. The gallery staff soon told the people to leave while they cleaned up the pieces. The piece was sponsored by Bel-Air Fine Art. An art adviser named Benedicte Caluch told the Miami Herald that the sculpture was insured, so the woman would not have to pay for the damage.
Koons is a painter and sculptor who gets ideas from everyday things like balloon animals, but he wasn't at the gallery. Even though his works have sold for as much as $91 million at auction, they question what people think fine art is. His balloon dog sculptures range in size from less than a foot (30cm) tall to more than 10ft tall and are made of brightly colored balloons. But this wasn't the first time one of his dogs got hurt. During the Design Miami exhibition in 2016, a small pink balloon dog fell out of a display case.
Jean Dubreil