Christie’s have announced for their May sales the first time one of Jeff Koons complex and exacting Play-Doh works have come to the market. A star attraction at his Whitney retrospective (Bill Bell Jr. loaned his edition of the work to the museum show), Play-Doh is ten feet high. It is constructed twenty-seven pieces of painted aluminum, exactly replicating a mound of Play-Doh made by his son. Koons has said of the work that he wanted to capture the exact moment before person tears the play-doh apart. The edition of five Play-Dohs took 20 years to realize in the manner Koons found acceptable. Over the course of the work’s production, the cost of fabrication soared. If the seller gets the $20m Christie’s is hoping for (and initial reactions to the estimate is that it is conservative) , there may not be much profit in it for him or her.

• Jeff Koons, Play-Doh polychromed aluminum, 124 x 152 1/4 x 137 in. Executed in 1994-2014. This work is one of five unique versions. Estimate is in the region of $20million

The sculpture will be on view in New York for Classics Week (April 13-18); during the Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale select highlights view concurrent with our exhibition for our Rockefeller Sale (April 28- May 5th); and during 20 Century week leading up to the auction (May 12-17th).