Art Market Monitor

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The Surprising $120m Jeff Koons Sculpture

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Koons, Balloon Dog (Red)

 

Artist and acerbic art world commentator, William Powhida draws attention to this interesting trend in Jeff Koons’s market. This work is from a massive edition of 2300 works created in 1995 by Jeff Koons’s studio. Recent sales have established a fairly steady price level at around $11,000 or so. But in mid-November at Sotheby’s day sale, one of the works traded for $52,500. That’s a very big jump but the real surprise comes when one follows Powhida’s suggestion and multiplies the sale price by the edition size. Think of that as a total market capitalization for the work of $120,750,000.

Even at the previous price level of close to $11,000, the whole edition would be “worth” $25m.

When Will the Koons Retrospective Land in LA?

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Jeff Koons, Buster Keaton

A brief kerfuffle broke out over the weekend when Bloomberg quoted a representative from the Whitney Museum on the undecided plans for the Jeff Koons retrospective to reach LA MoCA. Originally planned as an LA debut, the artist’s survey will now open in New York this coming June before heading to Paris and the Centre Pompidou followed by …

The Museum of Contemporary Art said that the upcoming Koons exhibition has not been canceled, and is expected to arrive in L.A. in 2015.

The Koons show will debut at the Whitney Museum of American Art in June, according to a spokesman for the New York museum. He said that the show won’t debut at MOCA in January as previously expected. After the New York opening, the exhibition is scheduled to go to the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

MOCA says Jeff Koons exhibition not canceled, could open in 2015 (Los Angeles Times)

High Hopes for Koons Train on High Line

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The New York Times is a raging inferno of art world scoops tonight with the paper’s City Room blog revealing the High Line’s ambitions to install Jeff Koons’s Train over the former railroad tracks that have become a central draw to Manhattan and essential to the revival of the Meat Packing District, including the future site of the Whitney Museum:

Mr. Hammond said that Friends of the High Line had long sought to highlight the park’s rail history. Once before, in 2008, the group considered the “Train” sculpture for a plaza at 10th Avenue and 18th Street, but the work was too big to fit there.

Though the Train has been a running topic for LACMA for several years now, Robert Hammond and Joshua David—the High Line’s founders and presiding spirits—have been stoked for the sculpture as a trophy project:

“We’ve had a crush on the ‘Train’ for a while now,” Mr. Hammond said in a phone interview on Monday. “To me, it looks very industrial and sculptural. The craftsmanship that went into these industrial engines is quite beautiful.”

The sculpture, to be constructed of steel and carbon fiber, would weigh several tons. It would also occasionally spin its wheels, blow a horn and emit steam.

In a statement, Mr. Koons said, “The power and the dynamic of the ‘Train’ represents the ephemeral energy that runs through the city every day.”

The one major obstacle is money. Friends of the High Line is focusing its energy on raising tens of millions of dollars to complete the third and final leg of the park. The last half-mile section, which hugs the West Side rail yards, runs west to 12th Avenue from 30th Street and 10th Avenue, and then continues north to 34th Street.

Mr. Hammond said he hoped that a donor would step forward to sponsor the entire artwork, which could either hang permanently or for several years.

High Line May Mix Past with Koons’s Vision (City Room/New York Times)

Koons Loans Old Master Works to Parisian Art Fair

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Public Relations or works for sale? It’s hard to discern which motive drives Jeff Koons’s decision to loan three of his Old Master works to the Parisian Tableau art fair to be held in the Palais de la Bourse November 4-8 this year. Judging from the publicist’s copy, Koons wants to be admired for his taste in French painters:

Jupiter and Antiope or Venus and Satyr by Nicolas Poussin (1584-1665), Young girl holding two puppies by Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) and Femme nue or Woman with a Parrot by Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) are the three alluring works that were selected from Jeff Koons’ collection to show in Paris.

Like many avant-garde artists, Koons aspires to emulate the standards of the Old Masters and has always deeply engaged with the history of art.  Born in York, Pennsylvania, in 1955, he painted copies of Old Masters and sold them in his father’s furniture store before studying art at Baltimore and Chicago.  He has collected throughout his professional life and, while he has always bought the work of high-profile contemporary artists, more recently he has focused on Old Master and 19th century works.  As with these three ravishing paintings, many of the works in Koons’ collection share a preoccupation with the female body and sexuality which is often seen in his own work.

Koons Loans Paris Tableau Press Release

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