Aside from making half the shit you own, China has a rich culture of manufacturing copies of artworks. Right now, the country’s biggest e-commerce site Alibaba is offering a “stainless steel sculpture of a balloon-animal dog – VSSSP-038A.” Colors vary. Sizes vary — from 100 centimeters (39 inches) to 30 meters (98 feet). Quality, presumably, also varies.
Since Jeff Koons’ art-production specifications notoriously aim for complete perfection, we’d be keen to test out the quality of these balloon-animal dogs, but not for the starting FOB price of $500. But it’s cheaper than Koons usual prices of up to $58.4 million, so knock yourself out, savvy “gifts and crafts” collector. And hurry up. Though Koons has already given up on an unsuccessful lawsuit over faux-Ballon Dog-ish merch in San Francisco, this one is overdue for a cease and desist, just for the product image alone. The original photo of Balloon Dog (Orange) was taken by Charles Rex Arbogast for the AP. (Screenshot: Alibaba.com)
