If anyone understands the feeling of wanting to run and hide in shame it's a Miami woman who accidentally knocked over and smashed an iconic piece of artwork valued at $42,000 last week. The small sculpture - created by world-renowned artist Jeff Koons - had been on display at the Bel-Air Fine Art Gallery for a VIP event to celebrate the opening of the Art Wynwood contemporary art fair, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/feb/19/art-fair-visitor-breaks-42000-dollar-jeff-koons-balloon-dog-sculpture" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Guardian</a> reports. It was then that a woman - who was in attendance at the event - decided to tap lightly on the piece of art, which was a smaller version of Koons' signature balloon dog. It is thought that she had wondered whether the blue sculpture was actually a real balloon, something she evidently found out the hard way when the priceless piece of art ended up in hundreds of little pieces on the gallery floor. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/B73ptglpNgc/]] Art collector Stephen Gamson filmed the aftermath, recalling: "When this thing fell to the ground, it was like how a car accident draws a huge crowd on the highway." He took to Instagram to upload several short clips of the smashed artwork, alongside old photos of himself with Koons. In one of the clips, someone can be heard saying: "I can't believe somebody would knock that over." Gamson captioned the upload: "I was at the VIP art opening of Art Wynwood as I was looking the art, I pointed to a Jeff Koons balloon dog sculpture. This woman knocked it over. I actually witnessed the whole thing. It shattered into a thousand pieces. One of the most crazy things I've ever seen. Anyway, I tried to purchase the broken sculpture. It has a really cool story. You will see this all over the news." [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/Co0-_g-N_Li/]] Though, this isn't the first time Koons' work has been subject to an unfortunate accident. In fact, a miniature magenta version of one of his balloon dogs fell out of its display case and smashed during the Design Miami exhibition in 2016. At the time, Koons didn't appear too fazed by the incident and brushed it off as no biggie, telling <a href="https://pagesix.com/2016/12/04/jeff-koons-treats-damaged-piece-like-no-big-deal/?_gl=1*152j5ft*_ga*MTM3NzE5MTgwNi4xNjc2ODIxNTA1*_ga_0DZ7LHF5PZ*MTY3NjgyNDE0NS4yLjEuMTY3NjgyNDU3My4wLjAuMA..&_ga=2.181522407.134176894.1676821518-1377191806.1676821505" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Page Six</a>: "It's a shame when anything like that happens but, you know, it's just a porcelain plate. "We're really lucky when it's just objects that get broken, when there's little accidents like that, because that can be replaced." I mean, I'd be pretty chill about it too if some of my artworks were auctioned for as much as $91 million too! Fortunately for the woman involved in last week's accidental smash, Koons' piece of art was insured, so she won't have to foot the $42,000 bill. We can imagine she was left pretty red-faced after that faux pas regardless. <h6>Featured image credit: Kate Hockenhull / Alamy</h6>

Woman accidentally knocks over and smashes $42,000 sculpture

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