3 days ago
Gifted balloon sculpture by Jeff Koons is unveiled in the National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in Canberra has received a balloon sculpture that could be the most expensive piece ever gifted to the national collection.
The sculpture by American artist Jeff Koons — Balloon Venus Dolni Vestonice (Yellow), 2013–17 — is a nearly three-metre-tall polished stainless steel statue.
It is inspired by a small artefact made of mammoth ivory from about 45,000 years ago that depicts fertility and the human body.
NGA director Nick Mitzevich did not want to put a price on the piece when asked if it could be worth about $20 million.
"The value is really set by the market, and as a gift, we don't really comment on the price," he said.
"But Jeff Koons's artworks sell up to that price and beyond … He is the highest selling living artist in the world today.
"He makes these extraordinary objects that seduce us in, that pull us in, and it asks us to look a bit closer."
He said he believed its true value was in its meaning.
"The work, for me, references art history. It references a fertility object from about 45,000 years ago, and I love that he is always thinking about art history," Dr Mitzevich said.
"And he gives it a 21st-century approach by turning a fertility object, a Venus, into a balloon sculpture. So, he collides history and the present.
The gallery's acquisition is part of a five-piece balloon sculpture series known as Antiquity. The pieces differ in colour, but each took years to bring to life, with the others on show all over the world.
In a statement, Jeff Koons said he was "happy" Balloon Venus had been gifted to the national collection so it could be digested by the public.
"I always enjoyed working with a metallic surface because it reflects us and affirms us.
"Whatever [the viewer is] thinking about, if they're feeling a sense of connection to memory and history, this is the art they're experiencing — and when they leave the room, the art leaves with them."
The sculpture was gifted by collectors Steve and Kylie Shelley, who said in a statement:
Another major gift to the gallery came earlier this year, with philanthropist Geoff Ainsworth donating Edvard Munch's Man with Horse to the national collection.
"In the last six months, we've made two extraordinary acquisitions of artists that have really been influential over the last 150 years," Dr Mitzevich said.
He invited people to have their own views on the works.
