Sculpture breaks record for work by a living artist

NEW YORK: A sculpture by American artist Jeff Koons sold on Wednesday for $91.1 million at an auction by Christie‘s in New York — a record price for a living artist.
“Rabbit”, a stainless steel casting of an inflatable rabbit, was the star of the auction house’s spring sale and overtook the previous record set by British painter David Hockney’s “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)”, which sold last November at Christie’s for $90.3 million.
It was a return to the top for Koons, whose “Balloon Dog (Orange)” for five years held the record for highest price reached at auction for a living artist after its sale for $58.4 million.
The selling price of “Rabbit” was only $80 million, but once commissions and fees were added, the final total rose to $91.075 million. In an unusual turn for an art auction at this price range, the buyer of “Rabbit” was actually in the room during the sale.
Created by Koons in 1986, “Rabbit” is among the bestknown works by the artist, who built a reputation for challenging art world conventions.
He has exhibited his largerthan-life creations worldwide, including a 2008 showing in France’s historic Chateau of Versailles that so jarred French traditionalists a small group of them protested outside the event, demanding Koons’s works be sent to “Disneyland”.
The sale was a new triumph for the artist, who since his emergence in the 1980s has been the subject of endless conversation over his work’s commercial and artistic value.