Oops? I call BS!

Big little news in the art world the other day was the story about the cutesy cartoon balloon dog sculpture that an art fair attendee knocked off its perch. This wasn't just any old cutesy cartoon balloon dog sculpture. It was a Jeff Koons cutesy carton balloon dog sculpture. Valued at $42,000.

The shiny, electric blue sculpture was on display at Bel-Air Fine Art’s booth during the fair’s VIP Preview event. Once the sculpture shattered, the VIPs gathered. “When this thing fell to the ground, it was like how a car accident draws a huge crowd on the highway,” said Stephen Gamson, a Wynwood-based artist and art collector. (Source: Miami Herald)

Here's your before:

And here's your after:

Oopsie! 

Oopsie?

A large crowd gathered around the broken pieces with many people wondering if the incident was a performance art piece or another art fair stunt...

Not this time, Gamson said. Just a good ol’ fashioned accident...

Though he doesn’t know for certain, Gamson said he assumes that the woman tapped the sculpture because she was curious if it was a real balloon. It was not.

I call BS. Or, rather, I call DS (as in cutesy cartoon balloon Dog Shit).  

Because when was the last time a pricey, fragile object was left untethered and/or not encased in a clear plexiglass cube? I'm guessing that last time would be never.

But Jeff Koons is the past master of hype. Maybe not quite as extreme as Banksy (who famously shredded one of his works; the shredded work is "worth" over $25M). And that hype translates into insane prices for his works.  

Four years ago, Koons set a record for the most expensive work sold at an auction by a living artist: a rabbit sculpture that sold for $91.1 million. In 2013, another balloon dog sculpture of Koons sold for $58.4 million. (Source: NPR)

I haven't been to Encore, the splosh Boston casino, but it features a cutesy shiny stainless steel cartoon statue of Popeye. 

I yam what I yam, but I wouldn't have paid $28M for it. Maybe $2.80 for a greeting card that uses the image. But I'm not Encore owner Steve Winn now, am I?

And I yam not saying that the woman who oopsied the statue was in on anything. But when you leave something this fragile unguarded and unsecured, certainly you might have the expectation that it would get knocked over and smash to smithereens. And that this incident would garner a fair amount of press.

Interesting that it was a modestly priced cutesy cartoon balloon dog sculpture, and not the one that sold for $58.4M.

Anyway, word is that Koons might be selling the shards of this particular balloon dog. (For whatever reason, I'm zeroing in on the possibly true story of moviegoers at Chicago's Biograph Theater dipping their popcorn in the blood of FBI most wanted criminal John Dillinger way back in the 1930's.)

In any case, insurance will be covering the $42K. Oopsie or not, I guess all will be forbidden.

Arf!