Jeff Koons – The promise of a foretold success

During the 1980s, Jeff Koons appropriated everyday consumer items such as vacuum cleaners, basket balls or various knickknacks. Unlike Duchamp who, with his ready mades, did not seek aesthetic delight in exhibiting mundane objects, Koons glorifies mass-made products in a Pop aesthetic. The American artist aimed to reach the widest possible audience in opting for popular culture…and the bet paid off. He is now not only one of the artists commanding the highest prices but also one of the most controversial!

In 2004, Koons was the most sought-after US contemporary artist (born after 1945) with annual auction proceeds of USD 18,5 million for 36 works sold….a sum which could well be exceeded in a hammer down in autumn 2007!

In effect, Jeff KOONS fans are eagerly anticipating the Christie’s sale in New York on 13 November and the Sotheby’s sale on 14 November, during which two massive sculptures Blue Diamond, 2005, a seven feet large ring (210 cm) depicting Saint Valentine’s madness, and Hanging Heart (Magenta and Gold) will be auctioned for a pre-sale estimate above USD 15 million! This expectation is well above his current record, set at the same auction house in May 2001, when a kitsch, gold leaf-plated, ceramic of Michael Jackson and his monkey Bubbles, edited in three examples, sold for USD 5.1 million, a high which has not been repeated since. Hanging Heart should be up to a new record: this monumental heart weighing 2 tonnes required 6,000 hours of work and a version of the piece was the pride and joy of the Pinault collection when it opened to the public in the Palazzo Grassi, Venice, in 2006!

On 30 June 2007, the artist held the ninth position in the contemporary artists ranking according to turnover basis (see TOP 500 contemporary artists – p.31-35 in Contemporary Art Market 2006/2007 by Artprice) … This ranking is most likely to change after the big November sales in New York.

Hanging Heart and Blue Diamond belong belongs to his Celebration series, begun in 1994, which currently comprises twenty different sculptures and sixteen paintings, with their inspiration in childhood. Koons’ artistic expression is mostly in three dimensions, for all the series taken together. At auction, his sculptures and ceramics account for 75% of transactions and 85% of sale proceeds. The most expensive works are his sculptures in bronze, polychromed wood or marble, which frequently achieve million-ticket sales at auction: between January 2001 and October 2007, no less than 17 sculptures changed hands for between USD 1 million and 5 million!

The first Jeff Koons collectors can be justly pleased with their acquisitions. For example, the highest bidder for Two ball 50/50 tank, sold on 7 May 1992 at Sotheby’s NY, secured the installation for USD 65,000, or EUR 56,000. This work in the Equilibrium series contains two basket balls half submerged in a glass tank and was designed with the aid of Dr. Richard Feynman, holder of the Nobel Prize for physics. In 2000, it was sold for USD 200,000 at Phillips NY, whereas a larger-scale version with three balls almost doubled this bid in 2005 (USD 420,000, Christie’s NY).

The significant number of works in multiple editions explains why 50% of Koons works are affordable at less than EUR 2,500. But prices are undeniably rising. His Balloon Dogs in metalized porcelain edited in 2,300 examples, for instance, were selling for between EUR 1,200 and 1,800 in 2002 whereas you’d need to spend between EUR 2,000 and 4,000 currently. His Puppies, small, white porcelain vases some 45cm high, produced in 3,000 examples, change hands in the same price range. In December 2002 a Puppy did, however, remain unsold at Cornette de Saint-Cyr in Paris despite a low-end estimate of just EUR 800.