In yet another instance that very much proves Andy Warhol’s aphorism, “Art is what you can get away with,” the shattering of an expectedly expensive “Dog Balloon (Blue)” by Jeff Koons has turned out to be a collector’s wet dream rather than a tragedy. The decimation of the blue chrome sculpture (crafted from French Limoges porcelain) occurred in, where else, Miami. A place where art is not meant to be appreciated, so much as made into as much of a gimmick as possible (see: the banana taped to a wall at Art Basel that sold for $120,000). So maybe it’s to be expected that some “unassuming” observer at the “VIP art opening” for Art Wynwood would be casual and careless enough to bump into the stand displaying the work. Of course, perhaps it was on the gallery representing the piece, Bel-Air Fine Art, for placing so much faith in the supposed human ability to be graceful and delicate. Least of all around art valued at $42,000.
Although Bel-Air Fine Art could have technically furnished the expensive piece with a vitrine encasement to avert such a disaster, “When something is for sale, they take a chance on it because they don’t want to diminish the spectacular appearance of it to somebody who might be there to buy it.” This said by a security consultant named Steven Keller, who also added, “A lot of times [art gets damaged] because people are not careful enough and because they can be incredibly naïve about art.” Understatement of the century. But at least he was polite enough to use the word “naïve” instead of the more candid “philistine.” The hoi polloi plodding through galleries with their camera phones at the ready for the “perfect” shot or selfie has only added to the risk factor of “art assault” over the years.
With humanity also living in a time when it is assumed that everything is “fake” or “staged” for the sake of some larger “virality scheme,” many at the art fair believed it was another stunt in the style of what Banksy did to one of his own paintings, “Girl With Balloon” (there’s just something about art with the word “Balloon” in the title that makes it ripe for ruin, one supposes). Rigging it to self-destruct (a.k.a. shred itself) if it ever went up for auction, the painting did just that at a 2018 Sotheby’s gathering, where onlookers were treated to the simultaneous delight and horror of watching the work get obliterated. Originally bought for the price of 1.4 million dollars, the destroyed version of itself went for the even higher amount of 25.4 million (the same preposterous increase in value might occur for Koons’ shards as well).
Later, Banksy would quote Picasso on the matter with, “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.” But when that urge isn’t calculated at all, as was the case with this klutz (or possibly just another oblivious being) of a woman at the art fair, it becomes merely another example of how the public is so often ignorant and undeserving of art, despite art’s very audience being (occasionally) intended for such ilk. And yet, there’s a reason art has been shrouded behind the moated world of the affluent for most of its existence: they’re not so damned careless with it. Obviously, if they’re willing to shell out millions in order to possess it. And, once upon a time, they were even willing to offer their patronage in order to secure it (clearly, rich people have evolved into stingier cunts since then).
In contrast, someone like Keith Haring was off-put by the idea of art being “owned” by the rich class, insisting, “Art is for everybody” (with the necessary caveat being, “Art is for everybody who can be around it without destroying it.”) Hence, his preference for the graffiti-oriented medium, scrawling his work in spray-paint on trains, walls and every highly visible surface in between. Jean-Michel Basquiat had a similar philosophy to his contemporary before the art world came knocking and rendered his work “gallery-worthy” with their approval.
Jeff Koons, needless to say, has been “gallery-approved” for decades, setting a record as the only living artist whose art (specifically, “Rabbit”) was able to fetch as high of a number as ninety-one million dollars at an auction. With “Balloon Dog (Blue), Shattered,” he might set another record. Mainly for how absurd the art world can get, in addition to how much “ruins” can be sold for. That the incident has happened at a time when humanity itself is living among the ruins that most companies can still turn a profit out of is perhaps too painfully poetic to acknowledge. We’re all willing to open our purses for the shards, as it were. It’s just that some of us are doing it for basic survival, whereas others are doing it to flex their financial clout on something especially superfluous.
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