Wrecking Ball

2003

polychromed aluminum, carbon steel (coating), coated steel chain

219.7 x 43.2 x 52.1 cm (86 1/2 x 17 x 20 1/2 in.)

This sculpture, consisting of a red coated steel wrecking ball hanging from the ceiling by a chain and to which two inflatable children's toys made of polychrome aluminium are welded, presents a complex, unsettling image of childhood. The red chain refers to sexual fetishism while the structure’s balance exudes a sense of danger at the same time as a feeling of security and stability.

Koons' 2003 sculpture Wrecking Ball is characteristic of his work blurring the boundaries between popular imagery and "high art". Here he plays on the contrast between the inflatable toys’ heartwarming lightness and the wrecking ball’s powerful, destructive heaviness.

Koons' sculpture Wrecking Ball, which is in the Pinault Collection, was presented during the 2009 exhibition "Un certain état du monde ?" (“A Certain State of the World?”) at the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture in Moscow.
Exhibitions