Jeff Koons Raises $5.5M For Charity Using Birkin Bags As His Medium
Gazing Ball (Charity), courtesy Jeff Koons
So what do you do with those priceless Hermès Birkin bags that are gathering dust in your closet? If you’re Diane von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs, Sofia Coppola, or HRH Princess Caroline of Hanover, you give them to artist Jeff Koons—as art supplies.
Tomorrow on Sunday, November 9th, nine new works by artist Jeff Koons—featuring 11 donated Birkin bags—will be auctioned by Simon de Pury to benefit Project Perpetual, which encourages “the giving away of possessions held to be precious.” The proceeds will go to the United Nations Foundation and its shot@Life Campaign, which supports worldwide vaccination efforts. The grandest of all of the lots will be the six-foot tall plaster sculpture Gazing Ball (Charity) which was inspired by Picasso’s Le Soupe and will feature three of the luxury carryalls.
Koons, of course, is a major force in pop culture: he designed Lady Gaga’s Artpop cover and was name checked by Jay Z in “Picasso Baby.” This fall, a major retrospective of his works drew hordes of visitors to the Whitney Museum and in 2013 one of his famous balloon dog sculptures sold for $58.4 million, making a $10,000 purse almost seem like a bargain.
As Koons puts it, “When people decided to give up those bags they’re really showing an understanding and a commitment: yes I have excess in this world. That excess could actually be put to something that I find more meaningful.”
Koons isn’t the only cultural force standing up to promote the eradication of diseases like mumps, measles, rubella, and rotavirus. The auction dovetails with Vaccinate, a new campaign that has style icons like Kate Moss, Claudia Schiffer, and Victoria Beckham standing up to support worldwide childhood vaccinations. Check it out on the Project Perpetual website.
