Jeff Koons is a well-known and very successful contemporary artist, many of his works selling for eight-figure prices. This feat was replicated a few days ago, when one of his statues, depicting legendary 20th century cartoon character Popeye, was sold for a large price during a Sotheby’s auction.
Koons worked on the statue, which features the iconic sailor holding an open can of spinach and flexing his muscles, between 2009 and 2011. Sotheby’s described it as “the artist’s monumental interpretation of Popeye”, the seven-foot tall, mirror-polished stainless-steel figure is a perfect embodiment of the artist’s “signature brand of pop art”, while also capturing the simultaneously human and superhuman nature of Popeye himself.
During the subsequent press conference, it was revealed that the statue, for which Steve Wynn paid $28 million, will be on display at one of his Las Vegas hotels sometime in the near future.
[Pursuitist]
