Koons Jeff
Balloon Dog (Blue) translates the temporary form of a twisted balloon into a rigid, reflective object through porcelain and a mirror-like metallic surface. The work fixes an unstable, air-filled gesture into a durable material, emphasizing surface, volume, and optical seduction. Its flawless finish eliminates traces of the hand, positioning the object between toy, commodity, and sculptural monument, while foregrounding fabrication, scale shift, and the tension between playfulness and permanence.
For many years Koons’ artworks have been in the top ranks of the most expensive sculptures. In the 1990s, the artist’s booster period in his career, Koons began creating large-scale art objects out of polished stainless steel. Although they look like balloon toys (inflatable dogs, flowers, monkeys), they weigh several tons. The main advantage of his “balloon” sculptures is the sense of their lightness, almost weightlessness, although they are way heavier than they appear. Today, this particular series by Koons is among the most expensive works of contemporary art. In 2019, the art world was talking about his artwork Rabbit, which has been sold for $91 million at Christie’s auction. Due to this, Koons regained the title of the most expensive living artist.
Koons holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and has been exhibited in New York, London, Chicago, Basel, Seoul and many more. His artworks are in the collections of the Broad Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the MoMA, the Tate and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
