The record price set earlier this year for Damien Hirst’s Lullaby Spring piece is already being challenged. Jeff Koons’ sculpture "Hanging Heart" from his Celebration series is on view at Sotheby’s in New York awaiting their upcoming Contemporary Evening sale. The published estimate of $20 million creeps just above the price paid for Lullaby Spring, $19.3million, which set the record for highest auction price for a living artist. The brilliant magenta heart and gold undulating bow, which took ten years from conception to completion, is one of five uniquely colored versions. Executed in high chromium stainless steel and coated with ten layers of paint, itweighs over 3,500 pounds, measures almost nine feet tall and took over 6,000 man hours to produce. The other sculptures in the Celebration series include Cracked Egg and Balloon Dog.
The hammer price for Hanging Heart will likely far exceed another of Koons’ sculptures, Blue Diamond, which will be presented at Christie’s the evening prior. That piece boasts a still impressive $12 million estimate, more than doubling the price paid for the Michael Jackson and Bubbles sculpture in 2001.
