Megastar Jeff Koons Will Now Be Represented by Pace Gallery

“Tulips bouquet” and Jeff Koons on October 04, 2019 in Paris, France. Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images

As one of the biggest stars in the international art world, everything Jeff Koons does is guaranteed to attract attention. In 2019, a French court ruled that the artist indeed had to pay damages due to a minor plagiarism scandal, but in the same year Koons debuted a 34-foot-tall sculpture of a hand grasping a cluster of semi-inflated pastel balloons in Paris, further cementing his status as a ubiquitous icon. Now, new reports state that Koons, who previously had his work sold by both Gagosian and Zwirner galleries, has moved to be represented by Pace Gallery exclusively.

According to the New York Times, Koons made this move in order to consolidate and reboot the facilitation of his sales; he also informed Larry Gagosian and David Zwirner of his decision to change galleries in personal letters sent the previous Friday. The acquisition of Koons is undoubtedly a huge win for Pace Gallery: in 2019, an edition of a Rabbit sculpture by Koons sold for $91.1 million to Mnuchin Gallery, setting a record at the time for the most expensive work by a living artist ever to be sold.

The first project Koons will do with Pace is a sculpture that will be unveiled at Pace Gallery in Palo Alto in 2022, and a larger exhibition of new work by Koons will take place at Pace in New York in 2023. “He is one of the great living artists, who changed the way we look at our culture and at each other,” Marc Glimcher, Pace Gallery’s CEO, told the Times in an interview. “Having been so committed to sculpture for 60 years, we think we have something to contribute to the next phase of Jeff’s career.”

“I always liked the idea of having more of a home gallery, that if people were interested in work they would know directly where to go,” Koons himself added to the Times. “I just try to make the best work I can. I can’t do more than that.”