When Sotheby's puts a seven-foot-wide magenta and turquoise Jeff Koons sculpture of an Easter egg on the block in New York May 12, will the international auction house wind up with egg on its face?
It's possible.
"I don't think it's going to sell," predicts Todd Levin, a former Sotheby's specialist who runs New York art advisory firm Levin Art Group. The auction house estimate of $6 million to $8 million is much too high given the worldwide economic crisis, says Levin. Plus the sculpture--a shiny, oversized replica of an Easter egg covered in foil and topped with a bow--is not one of Koons' more important works.
Only the auction will tell whether Levin is right. The sale is part of a run of auctions at Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips that are viewed as a test of the international market for Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art. Certainly, volume is down: The auction catalogues are far thinner than they were a year ago. What's questionable, however, is how low prices will go. And Koons is a bellwether of "blue chip" durability and value.
"Either the bubble has burst, or it will burst at these sales," says New York dealer Richard Feigen. He agrees with Levin that the egg is unlikely to find a buyer willing to fork over $6 million.
Attention-Getting Works
Koons, 54, became famous during the 1980s for his bold, post-modern works that included vacuum cleaners encased in Plexiglas boxes; a life-sized porcelain sculpture of Michael Jackson with his pet monkey, Bubbles; and a series inspired by Koons' then-wife Cicciolina, an Italian porn star. Those works, created between 1982 and 1990, are the most valuable of Koons' oeuvre, says Levin.
The Baroque Egg With Bow comes from a later series called "Celebration" that Koons dreamed up in the mid-1990s and then executed later, after he located a foundry in Germany that could produce oversized sculptures of objects like hearts and balloons. The egg was made in 2008, one of a series of five, each in different color combinations.
The egg's seller, according to several sources, is Daniel Loeb, 47, founder of struggling New York hedge fund Third Point (Loeb did not return calls seeking comment). Since the contemporary art market started to deflate along with the economy, speculative collectors like Loeb have been selling off big-ticket artworks and eschewing auction paddles.
"The giant snapping sound you heard in the last six months was the sound of wallets closing," says Levin.
Over the past half-dozen years, the Koons market has been supported by big art-world players such as publisher Peter Brant, Manhattan real estate magnate Aby Rosen and Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk, all of whom own works by Koons and therefore have a vested interest in making sure his prices stay high. As does Koons' dealer, Larry Gagosian, who sold the egg to Loeb in the first place.
But in this market, none of them may be willing to put up the cash. Two art-world players predict that Gagosian will not participate in the bidding.
Recession-Proof Artist?
Tobias Meyer, Sotheby's worldwide head of contemporary art, insists that the egg will sell. Meyer points to the $23.6 million paid at Sotheby's in November 2007 for another piece in the Celebration series, Hanging Heart, and the $25.7 million a buyer paid in June 2007 at Christie's in London for a Koons balloon flower sculpture.
Even after markets started crashing, in February 2009, notes Meyer, Sotheby's sold a less crowd-pleasing wooden Koons sculpture in London for $4.1 million (the estimate had been $3.2 million to $4.6 million). "That was a far darker period," notes Meyer. "In February, everyone thought the world was coming to an end."
Since Sotheby's announced its evening sale inventory in April, says Meyer, he has received many inquiries about the egg. "There is a big waiting list for people who want to buy Jeff Koons," says Meyer.
There may be a list of potential Koons buyers. The question is, how much are they willing to pay?
Susan Adams, 04.29.09, 4:00 PM ET
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