Steven Tananbaum is suing first:
From Artnet:
"...In a bombshell lawsuit filed in New York today, a top collector has accused art star Jeff Koons and his dealer Gagosian Gallery of improper business practices. The asset management executive Steven Tananbaum claims that Koons and the gallery failed to deliver three monumental sculptures—even after he paid millions of dollars for them.
Tananbaum, who is also a trustee of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, claims in the dramatic, 53-page complaint that “the road to Jeff Koons’s success is littered with corruption and [his] international acclaim has a hidden, dark, and unctuous background. ...”
[Link]
Producer Joel Silver is suing second:
"... Silver then asked Gagosian gallery to return his money because he was “frustrated by the delay and skeptical of when, if ever, the Balloon Venus would be completed.” Gagosian reportedly refused and told the producer he couldn’t have his money back until he made his payments on the new schedule laid out by the gallery. One day before Silver was to make a payment, Tananbaum filed his suit, which claims that the gallery had engineered a Ponzi-style scheme that also involved delayed completion dates. ..."
[Link]
Going to use a "low rent" analogy to imagine what is up with this lawsuit. Sort of like talking out loud in public: The lawsuit in question has nothing to do with Amazon but I am using Amazon as an sample relationship between an artist, a gallery and the customer. Three parties total and three sides to the story. The title of the art that Mr. Tananbaum and Mr. Silver "purchased" is named: "Balloon Venus." I am using Koons; "Diana" as an example since I have never seen a Balloon Venus.
Imagine I purchased a Jeff Koons' artwork called "Diana" on Amazon in 2013 and I used my Amazon credit card to do it. Now this item is a very expensive item so and I have to make scheduled payments or else Amazon (our allegorical Larry Gagosian in this case) is not going to be too happy with me but once I make that final payment I will receive my terribly wonderful "Diana"…or will I?
Ok, I click and agree to the terms and conditions and I add the item to the cart. After further shopping or browsing has ended, I enter the cart area to conclude the purchase. Therein I see the "select shipping options" which states the delivery is expected to be something like three-years and three-months or something into the future. Hmmm...
I gotta have it, it will look great in my long, imaginary, "limestone hallway" and it will bring great joy to my friends and the public at large… I click that "buy" button
As the months pass I am making my payments on time and it is not easy. Every month I dropping say $200,000-ish and that is a lot of "love." (The plaintiff's payments were way more substantial with a different schedules and they too were made on time. Steve Tananbaum paid over $13-million). We all know that $200,000 a month leaving my bank account really hurts. Thus the "devil on my shoulder" starts talking to me saying things like "...WTF are you are doing? Is this knock-off really that great? Will Jeff Koons deliver on time? What else could you be doing with that money?" — Then slowly over time the devil on my shoulder has me thinking what could I buy...
Bingo! WIth on payment alone I could buy a French yacht? Yes, the "devil on my shoulder" priced out a Beneteau 38.1-foot Oceanis sailboat coming in at just over $168,000. Thus with twenty-seven payments worth of Beneteau sailboats I could have my own "navy" — but that is not all... with left over money I would still have enough cash left over to put a male or female model in a Speedo or a bikini looking terrific at the helm as captain and first mate. To wit:
Nice boat huh? — With 27-payments I could create my own French Navy. I don't mean to beat a dead horse, (but it is dead anyway, right?) If I would chosen Bitcoin instead as an investment rather than Koon's Diana or my French navy, I would be up a mad, phat, $100-million dollars and that's four or five F-15 Fighter jets towards owning my own "banana republic."
My dreams are stupid, I send the "devil on my shoulder" well back to hell.
I paid my money and when the deadline hits I do not get my Diana. months than years go by, NO DIANA! — I am pissed! This is the last straw for me! I love art, I want to contribute to arts and I want THIS Jeff Koons' Statue in my imaginary McMansion. (It has to be an McMansion, right? — I mean, if it is a Jeff Koons' and it definitely needs an equally "kitsch" McMansion to frame it nicely don't you think?
So what do I do? I decide to go to Amazon's customer service link to ask politely: "Where is my God Damn, Diana?" Next, I jumped through the hoops and I get a hold of an Amazon customer service rep. (Our doppelgänger for Larry Gagosian or more likely one of his employees asked to fall on their sword because they know I am really mad.)
Amazon gets back to me later in the day and I am told that the artist known as Jeff Koons is late because he is such a quality freak that he wants it to be perfect and it is just not there yet… "How does Spring 2019 sound," they ask…"
"FUCK YOU, BLOW ME, Jeff and his assistants, [many of whom he has laid off as of late] had years to put this "babe" together. Michelangelo built the "David" by hand, with no electricity, no assistants, from a block marble that sat around in someone's backyard for ten years after two sculptures screwed it up. GUESS HOW lONG IT TOOK HIM?"
"How long, sir?," she asked condescendingly.
"TWO YEARS!"
"My apologies, but let me remind you that the ROI on this piece will more than make up for the delay. Jeffs Koons is this generation's "Michelangelo of kitsch and..."
"Miss, this is not an arbitrage deal, I did not buy Diana to sell her! - You know what, never mind, I am so suing the two of you. You will be hearing from my lawyer shortly." I hang up and feel burned!
In closing, I make an offer to Steven Tanabaum and Joel Silver... Choose any artwork on this website and I will sell it to you for the cost to bond it to aluminum with 80-tons of pressure and 400º of heat and I will send it to on time within 30-days. I promise, and my word is BOND (unlike the artist you are dealing with now!)