A Balloon Menagerie

In his latest collaboration with Bernardaud, artist Jeff Koons transforms his gigantic steel sculptures into porcelain figures for art lovers to enjoy at home, writes Cristina Morales

One of the most important living artists today, Je Koons has built a reputation for blurring the lines between mass culture and high art, creating some of the most recognisable artworks on the planet. Since the ‘80s, he’s been capturing the art world’s imagination by transforming kitsch and banal everyday items into works that communicate universal themes of consumerism, acceptance, and humanity.

His gigantic balloon animal sculptures, which date back to 1994, are some of the artist’s most iconic works. Made of stainless steel and transparent colour coatings, the

rst balloon animals were borne out a desire to create a piece that “re ected the joy of celebrating a birthday or a party,” Koons once told auction house Christie’s back in 2013, when his Balloon Dog (Orange) sold for US$58.4 million—then the highest price paid for art by any living artist.

( e record has since been broken by British artist David Hockney in November 2018, when his pop art painting Portrait of an Artist [Pool with Two Figures] sold for US90.3 million; before being broken again by Koons himself in May 2019, when his Rabbit sculpture sold for over US$91 million.)

SIZED DOWN monuments

e original versions of Koons’ balloon animal sculptures were monumental, standing over three to four metres high. e artist’s recent collaboration with the French ne porcelain brand Bernardaud allows art lovers to bring sized-down versions of the sculptures home, each standing just 25 to 29 centimetres tall.

In this limited-edition collection, Koons’ Balloon Swan (Magenta), Balloon Rabbit (Violet), and Balloon Monkey (Orange) is available for purchase from Bernardaud, with a limited edition worldwide of 999 pieces of each artwork. Intrigued by Limoges porcelain, Koons and Bernardaud worked tirelessly to ensure that no detail of Koons’ art would be compromised in rendering his balloon animals in porcelain, from their re ective surfaces to the intricate knots and twists.

This isn’t

Koons’ first partnership with

Bernardaud.

Back in 2013, he collaborated with the brand to come up with his Banality collection for Bernardaud’s

150th anniversary. “I was always intrigued by porcelain, by both the economic and the sexual aspect of the material,” said