the art collectors

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

Expect Delays for Koons’ Train

Train – Production Model © Jeff Koons Production / Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Bloomberg reports that due to budget constraints and a drastically shrunken endowment, Jeff Koons’ $25 million commission for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has been postponed, and may come to a complete halt altogether. Dubbed by The Art Newspaper as most expensive museum commission ever,  the proposed sculpture would dangle a full-scale motorized replica of a 70-foot 1943 Baldwin locomotive from a crane in front of the museum’s entrance. Three times a day the train’s wheels would start up, while sounding its whistle and blowing off  steam. “We wouldn’t do it unless someone funds it; someone has to write us a check,” said Barbara Pflaumer, LACMA’s associate vice president for communications and marketing.