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Crazy for Koons: A Look at the New Hublot Classic Fusion Balloon Dog by Jeff Koons
Since 2011, Hublot has worked with a wide range of contemporary artists, but could this latest collaboration with Jeff Koons be the brand’s most appropriate pairing yet?
Watch critics have strong opinions about Hublot. Art critics have strong feelings about Jeff Koons. And now the artist and the brand have teamed up for a collaboration that makes you slap yourself on the forehead and say,
This makes perfect sense. Why didn’t it happen sooner?
It won’t hurt Hublot or Koons’ feelings to say that both brands have made their names through contradiction and excess (both descriptors are checked in the press release). And both made their debuts in the postmodern Eighties era.
Today, Hublot and Koons are announcing a partnership for the Twenties: The Classic Fusion Balloon Dog.
What makes these timepieces interesting is that they illustrate how both parties have matured over the last four decades.
Who Is Koons?
An American art-world provocateur, Jeff Koons made his reputation by transforming everyday objects into cultural icons and cultural objects into everyday items.
A perfect example of his polarizing nature is when, as part of his Equilibrium series, he floated three basketballs in a fish tank (“Three Ball 50/50 Tank”) and the art world began to either clutch its pearls (the Village Voice called it cynical and “not very moral,” others called it gimmicky, and still others questioned whether it was art at all) or declare Koons the second coming of Andy Warhol or Marcel Duchamp.
Another example is when, for his Banality exhibition, he had artists at the Cesare Villari porcelain factory in Solagna, Italy, turn photos of Michael Jackson and his pet monkey Bubbles into the kind of knick-knack you’d see on your grandmother’s mantel. His supporters praised the statue as a scathing rebuke of modern celebrity worship, while his detractors complained that he simply farmed out the actual work.
Yet, despite his polarizing nature, I challenge anyone to stand at the base of a three-foot-tall, stainless-steel depiction of an inflatable vinyl rabbit and not feel the same sense of awe that you would in the presence of a Brancusi.
Koons takes quotidian forms and transforms them through scale, craftsmanship, and attention to detail. What looks soft is actual steel. And hum-drum elements that you may have missed in the original objects – wrinkles around the knots of a balloon animal or the slightly sloppy painting on a porcelain figurine – are hyper-magnified to create the illusion of materiality by rendering the ephemeral permanent.
We are proud to collaborate with Jeff Koons. Few artists have transformed contemporary culture, turning everyday objects into global icons through scale, precision and uncompromising execution, in the way that Jeff Koons has done.
Hublot’s CEO Julien Tornare in a press release announcing the collaboration
It is great to share with Jeff what Hublot has always thrived on: tension between tradition and disruption, mechanics and emotion, innovation and craftsmanship, revealing that beneath the boldness lies extraordinary discipline; beneath the surface lies mastery.
Who Is Hublot?
These contradictions also apply to Hublot’s offerings. Hublot transforms engineering into emotion and complexity into clarity. Both share the same discipline: nothing is accidental. Every surface serves a purpose. Every detail is intentional. Every curve, finish, and proportion exists for a reason. This brings us to the Classic Fusion Balloon Dog.
Inspired by Koons’ iconic mirrored balloon sculptures, the new Hublot Classic Fusion Balloon Dog by Jeff Koons takes the shapes and surfaces of these famous artworks and twists them into horological objects.
The Classic Fusion Balloon Dog by Jeff Koons comes in three 42mm iterations: Silver, Blue, and Red. Each edition is limited to 200 pieces. Each version captures the high-gloss, colored chrome-like sheen of Koons’ original sculptures. They also aim to capture the fun-house mirror distortions that come from images bouncing off its curved surfaces.
Hublot and I have always shared fascination for the material sciences.
Jeff Koons in his artist statement for this collection.
Hublot uses all the technology of making master timepieces and also uses the material sciences to transcend the object into representing something that all of us can find even more relevance and meaning.
The Classic Fusion Balloon Dog by Jeff Koons is now available and priced at CHF 20,800. For more information, check out Hublot’s website.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS | HUBLOT CLASSIC FUSION BALLON DOG BY JEFF KOONS
Functions
Hours, minutes, seconds, date
Movement
Self-winding mechanical, calibre HUB1710, 28,800 v.p.h, 50-hour power reserve
Case
42.00 mm × 11.00 mm, polished red, blue or grey anodized aluminum with an inflated design, featuring a red, blue or grey rubber "dog tail" decor at 10:30
Water Resistance
5 ATM (50 m / 165 ft)
Strap
Blue, red or grey rubber base with a debossed metallic blue, red or silver insert featuring an inflated effect and tone-on-tone blue, red or grey stitching.
Buckle
Stainless steel deployant buckle with an inflated design
References
542.UB.5170.NR.JKN26 (blue), 542.UR.8170.NR.JKN26 (red), 542.SX.0820.NR.JKN26 (silver)
Price
CHF 20,800
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