Balloon dog by Jeff Koons
Photographed outside the Palazzo Grassi, Venice
An elephantine version of a toy dog that a balloon artist might twist at a children's birthday party, Koon's sculpture is made of stainless steel, and stands around 3 m high. The artist himself says that '… it's about celebration and childhood and color and simplicity—but it's also a Trojan horse. It's a Trojan horse to the whole body of artwork.'
Some commentators have taken it very seriously indeed. Is it mere coincidence that the dog was born at the same time as the great stockmarket bubble of the 90s? asked the New York Times' art critic. His view was that the balloon, with its inherent instability and short life, was a metaphor for the bipolar swings of inflation and recession that characterize contemporary economic life. 'Many people live these days with an anxious feeling that the world they know could suddenly burst. Balloon Dog embodies the joy and terror of such a moment with exhilarating panache.'
Others have been less impressed, seeing it as a trivial visual joke too vacuous even to raise a smile.
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