A visitor to an art show in Miami has learned an important lesson about Jeff Koons' famous balloon-dog pieces: They're not real balloons. In fact, they're made of glass and thus fragile. As the Miami Herald reports, a woman tapped on a shiny blue dog atop a pedestal at Art Wynwood, causing it to fall to the ground and shatter—a $42,000 accident. “Before I knew it, they were picking up the Jeff Koons pieces in a dustpan with a broom,” says Stephen Gamson, who witnessed the incident and spoke to the New York Times. Gamson's guess is that the woman tapped on the piece to see if it was actually a balloon.
Luckily for the unidentified woman, insurance will cover the cost of the mishap. As AFP notes, Koons' famous balloon-looking dogs come in a variety of sizes and colors. The one that broke on Thursday was about 16 inches tall and 19 inches long. Gamson tells the Herald that he has offered to buy the shattered pieces. “I find value in it even when it’s broken,” he says. "To me, it’s the story. It makes the art even more interesting.” No word on whether any such deal will go through. (A shredded Banksy piece sold for a small fortune.)
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