'Heartbreaking': Visitor accidentally shatters Jeff Koons 'balloon dog' sculpture at Art Wynwood
CTV
The artist Jeff Koons' famous sculptures might look like they're made from balloons -- but the works are actually fragile, as one art fair attendee found out when she knocked over a US$42,000 Koons piece Thursday, causing it to shatter.
The artist Jeff Koons' famous sculptures might look like they're made from balloons -- but the works are actually fragile, as one art fair attendee found out when she knocked over a US$42,000 Koons piece Thursday, causing it to shatter.
A blue balloon dog sculpture created by Koons broke into tiny shards when a visitor accidentally kicked its podium, according to the gallery hosting the piece.
Bel-Air Fine Art was displaying the piece at its booth at Art Wynwood, a contemporary art fair in Miami.
In a statement shared with CNN over email, the gallery's district manager, Cédric Boero, who was managing the Art Wynwood booth, told CNN that the gallery serves as "one of the official representatives for the famous Jeff Koons balloon dogs sculptures."
"Of course it is heartbreaking to see such an iconic piece destroyed," said Boero.
He said the piece fell after an unnamed art collector visiting the booth unintentionally kicked the pedestal during the fair's opening cocktail hour Thursday evening.
"The collector never intended to break the sculpture, in fact she never touched it with her hands," he said. "It was the opening cocktail, lots of people were on our booth, she gave unintentionally a little kick in the pedestal, which was enough to cause the sculpture to fall down."
