Jeff Koons is an influential contemporary artist who sold a piece titled Hanging Heart at Sotheby’s auction house for $23.6 million. This was the most expensive piece by a living artist ever auctioned until recently. It was bought by the Gagosian Gallery which also purchased another Koons sculpture entitled “Diamond (Blue)” for $11.8 million from Christie’s auction house on Tuesday, November 13, 2007. [wikipedia]

The works in the new Chicago exhibit include a 10 foot high gigantic balloon-animal dog painted metallic orange, a 1988 sculpture titled “Michael Jackson and Bubbles” and portraits of an ex-porn star.

“Many works in the retrospective show — featuring about 60 paintings and sculptures spanning Koons’ career from 1979 through 2007 — incorporate everyday articles, such as Hoover vacuums in glass cases, basketballs suspended in water tanks and children’s blowup swimming toys hanging from fences and chains.”

Koons has gained immense popularity as well as much criticism.

“The core of my work is to have transcendence in life. You have to first be able to accept yourself,” Koons said. “Then you can take a journey which leads you to the acceptance of others.”

Koons was a pioneer in his field in the 1980s as well as a successful commercial artist. He recently designed limited edition T-shirts for the Gap.

At the same time, Koons has developed an intense commercial appeal. He recently designed limited edition T-shirts for Gap.

Koons is not a stranger to Chicago. According to AP:

“The exhibit has been a homecoming for the artist, who spent one year at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and opened his first major show at the Museum of Contemporary Art nearly 20 years ago. Koons also got his start in Chicago, working under Ed Paschke, who used to take him to bars and tattoo parlors to look for ideas.”

Koons is a very valuable artist and according to museum officials, many of his works were uninsurable. He meticulously planned the entire Chicago exhibit and spent many hours making sure it was perfect.

This sounds like a great show that runs through Sept. 21st. If you are in the Chicago area make sure to stop in and see it.

A quick update. I noticed a google ad on the site for Jeff Koons igoogle themes. Google ads sure can be neat sometimes.

Christie’s in Hong Kong has auctioned off a 101.27-carat diamond. That is the size of a ping-pong ball people, that is a freaking huge diamond. It is the largest colorless stone to be auctioned in Asia, and it sold for $6,200,000.

According to Reuters, “The gem, which is internally flawless but rated VVS1 (very very slightly imperfect 1st degree) for clarity was sold after patchy bidding for HK$48.5 million including the buyer’s premium, a relatively low per-carat price and at the low-end of its pre-sale estimate.”

While rare polished diamonds achieved all-time highs per carat at sales in Geneva late last year, a much-hyped 72.22 carat “D” flawless white diamond failed to sell at a Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction in April, suggesting demand for top stones may be waning due to a weakening world economy.

Higher prices on diamond sales were achieved last year at sales in Geneva. This year however prices seem to have fallen due to a weakening world economy, while some fail to sell at all. Just this April for example, a “much-hyped” 72.22-carat flawless diamond failed to sell at a Hong Kong Sotheby’s auction.

Sotheby’s had their largest ever auction recently at $362 million for 83 lots. Among those that sold well were Francis Bacon’s Triptych, which sold for $86 million, Murakami’s 8ft tall nude My Lonesome Cowboy which is the most expensive ejaculation ever sold at auction went for $15.2 million and 33 lots from the Lauffs Collection totalling $96 million among others.

The nights big disappointment was Mark Rothko’s 1956 Orange, Red, Yellow which didn’t receive any bids, even though a similar piece sold for $50.4 million at a Christie’s auction on Tuesday.

Some were surprised when Banksy, the London street artist, failed to sell his piece at what was his first appearance in a Sotheby’s New York evening sale. The painting, “Four quaking cloaked figures, on their knees, pray and prostrate to a red sign announcing `Sale Ends Today‘, was estimated to sell at $800,000.

For more information you can read the bloomberg article.