For some very valuable reason, museums put the legend “Do not touch” on their exhibits, and although many viewers wonder “What could happen?”, it does not hurt to follow the instructions, something that a woman who accidentally broke an iconic sculpture, valued at $42,000, he confirmed.
This accident happened to a woman who, according to witnesses, touched the porcelain artwork with a finger Balloon Dogof the artist pop American Jeff Koons, ending up on the floor in pieces that had to be swept up by gallery staff.
The sad event occurred on February 16, during the exclusive opening night for VIPs of Art Wynwood, a contemporary art fair, which takes place in Miami, Florida, United States.
According to information from the artist Stephen Gamson for the newspaper miami herald, he was admiring the sculpture when a woman hit the work and knocked it off the pedestal. At first, the spectator believed that it was some kind of performance. However, he immediately realized that, in effect, it had been a tremendous and million-dollar accident.
On the other hand, the data of the woman has not been released, but it is known that she is an art collector, that beyond the penalty for the accident, it is known that she was “very, very sorry.” The good news is that, according to Bel-Air Fine Art Galleries art consultant, Bénédicte Caluch, this work is covered by insurance.
It is worth mentioning that this piece was part of a limited edition that has now been reduced from 799 to 798, and despite having been smashed into thousands of pieces, there are still people interested in buying the sculpture. In fact, Stephen himself offered to buy it at the time, because he says it “has a really cool story.”
OH DAMN! 😱😱😱😱😱
A balloon sculpture of famous artist Jeff Koons in the shape of a dog crashed at the Art Wynwood Fair in Miami. It was valued at $42,000, the Daily Mail.
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It is specified that one of the collectors decided to check whether the work by Koons really lived up… https://t.co/J8QwVtQt2K pic.twitter.com/yJXi6sWuFq— TheRealBiffBifford 🇺🇸 (@TBifford) February 19, 2023
The creator of the sculpture, Jeff Koons, has not said anything about this painful incident, but it is understood that his works are among the most iconic in contemporary art and have sold for tens of millions of dollars. Some of them are huge and can measure up to three meters. However, the sculpture that was destroyed was barely a “puppy” of approximately 40 centimeters.
The Balloon Dogs they’ve been showcased around the world and became even more iconic in 2017, due to Jay-Z, who worked directly with Koons to create an inflatable balloon dog for a stage.