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US artist Jeff Koons poses in front of his artwork titled ‘Balloon dog’
US artist Jeff Koons poses in front of his artwork titled ‘Balloon dog’ Photograph: Nicolas Tucat/AFP/Getty Images
US artist Jeff Koons poses in front of his artwork titled ‘Balloon dog’ Photograph: Nicolas Tucat/AFP/Getty Images

Art fair visitor breaks $42,000 Jeff Koons balloon dog sculpture

This article is more than 1 year old

Shiny blue sculpture shatters into pieces on floor after woman gives it a tap at VIP event in Miami

A small sculpture valued at $42,000 (£35,000) by the renowned artist Jeff Koons has been broken at the opening night of an art fair in Miami by a woman who gave it a little tap.

The incident took place at the Bel-Air Fine Art gallery during the VIP-only opening of the Art Wynwood contemporary arts fair on Thursday.

Fragments litter the gallery floor after the accident involving the Jeff Koons sculpture. Photograph: @gamsonart/Instagram

The blue sculpture, part of Koons’ famous “balloon dog” series, was perched on a pedestal featuring the name of the American artist when the woman – an unidentified art collector – was said to have tapped the sculpture, which then fell to the floor and shattered into smithereens.

The art collector Stephen Gamson filmed the aftermath, as bemused guests gathered around the shards, with some thinking it might have been performance art or a staged stunt.

“When this thing fell to the ground, it was like how a car accident draws a huge crowd on the highway,” Gamson told the Miami Herald.

One bystander can be heard in the footage saying: “Oh my God!” while another says: “You see now that is the new art installation. Everything is art, isn’t it?”

Gallery staff soon shooed away the onlookers as staff swept up the pieces.

Benedicte Caluch, an art adviser with Bel-Air Fine Art, which sponsored the piece, told the Miami Herald the sculpture was covered by insurance, so the woman would not have to foot the bill for the damage.

It was just an accident, said Caluch, while Gamson speculated that the woman tapped the sculpture out of curiosity, perhaps thinking it was a real balloon.

Sharing an old photo taken with Koons on his Instagram account on Saturday, Gamson wrote that the mishap was “one of the most crazy things I’ve ever seen”. “Anyway, I tried to purchase the broken sculpture. It has a really cool story,” he added.

Koons, who was not present at the gallery, is a painter and sculptor who draws inspiration from everyday objects, including balloon animals. His works challenge notions of what fine art is, even as they have auctioned for as much as $91m.

His balloon dog sculptures come in vivid colours and vary in size, from less than a foot (30cm) in height to more than 10ft tall, and come in vivid colours.

This was not the first time one of his dogs has been smashed, however. In 2016, a magenta mini-version of a balloon dog fell out of a display case during the Design Miami exhibition.

Koons was philosophical about the accident, later telling the Page Six website: “It’s a shame when anything like that happens but, you know, it’s just a porcelain plate. We’re really lucky when it’s just objects that get broken, when there’s little accidents like that, because that can be replaced.”

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