Art World
One Cooked Bird: Jeff Koons’s ‘Balloon Swan’ Survives Fire in Hong Kong
"Balloon Swan (Red)" was nearly burned by faulty Christmas decorations in The Henderson, where Christie's is located.
Vivienne Chow
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An iconic balloon animal sculpture by Jeff Koons has survived a fire at one of Hong Kong’s newest office towers, the Henderson, where Christie’s opened its Asia headquarters this year.
A video that circulated on social media captured the incident in which Christmas decorations near the artist’s striking Balloon Swan (Red), located on the building’s third-floor lobby, were found ablaze.
A spokesperson for the Henderson confirmed that a minor fire incident occurred during non-office hours on November 23 due to a short circuit in a display item. The fire was promptly extinguished by the fire service within four minutes. There were no injuries or property damage and no evacuation was required.
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“The Henderson has resumed normal operations, and its centerpiece art installation, Balloon Swan (Red), is on display in the lobby for public viewing,” the spokesperson said in an email.
At this time of year, Christmas decorations are common at Hong Kong properties, particularly office buildings and shopping malls.
The gigantic sculpture was unveiled in September by Martin Lee, chairman of Henderson Land, one of Hong Kong’s biggest property developers, and his wife Cathy Chui, along with the inauguration of the brand new office tower the Henderson designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.
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The building is also where Christie’s new Asia HQ is located. The house held its inaugural sales there in September, including a white-glove sale of the famed Au Bak Ling collection of Chinese ceramics and an evening sale that set new Asian auction records for Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet.
The market value of Balloon Swan (Red) is unknown. However, the 11-and-a-half-foot tall Balloon Swan (Yellow) (2004–11)—one of the five unique editions of Balloon Swan, which also comes in magenta, blue, and violet—sold for $14.7 million at a Christie’s New York sale in 2015.
The video clip of the nearly burned bird was accompanied by a voice commenting in Cantonese, “A blaze on thriving ground.” In the context of Chinese feng shui, this phrase refers to the belief that a fire that causes no damage or injuries may signal prosperity ahead.
Jeff Koons’s Balloon Swan (Red) is located on the third floor lobby of the Henderson in Hong Kong, where Christie’s new Asia headquarters are located. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd. 2024.
Could the swan’s survival signal a change of fortune for the artist’s market? Koons’s auction record stands at $91 million, realized from the sale of the monumental stainless steel sculpture Rabbit (1986) sculpture at a Christie’s New York auction in May 2019, according to Artnet Price Database. The sale made him the most expensive living artist in the world.
Last year, his annual auction sales plummeted to $27.8 million, an 84 percent drop from a peak of $170.9 million a decade ago, as reported by Artnet’s Katya Kazakina. More recent data from Artnet’s Price Database indicates that the total sales value of his works in 2024 so far has surpassed $30 million, a slight increase from the past year. The most expensive Koons work sold to date this year was Balloon Monkey (Blue) (2006–13), which went for £7.6 million ($9.9 million) at Christie’s London in October.
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