The fine-art world is all atwitter this a.m. with the news that Howard and Cindy Rachofsky are parting with one of their prized possessions: Jeff Koons' “Balloon Flower (Magenta),” described in The New York Times this morning as "monumental." Till it was sent to Germany for polishing -- not a euphemism -- the work was floating in a pond at The Rachofsky House on Preston Road, off Northwest Highway. But the couple wants to part with the piece in order to raise the scratch necessary to "bolster other areas of their collection," says their art adviser Allan Schwartzman, who previously held the position of Art Vandelay.
The Rachofskys paid $1.1 mil for the giant balloon a few years back; it's expected to sell for, oh, 23 times that, give or take, on June 30 at Christie's Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale auction. Only, notes The Times, there is a potential loser here: the Dallas Museum of Art, which is getting all of the Rachofsky's stuff, including the House. To which the DMA says: Not a problem, because the more stuff the Rachofskys buy with the proceeds from this sale, the more the DMA will wind up with down the yellow-brick road. --Robert Wilonsky
