Alert: This is a follow-up to a blog post I wrote that you can read here: [Link]
Here we go: Would you sign a contract where the item you are purchasing can be delivered at the arbitrary whim of the artist and only a suggested delivery date? — I would not! — I would feel like I was being offered to "buy the Brooklyn bridge"
The lawyer claims that Koons and the gallery failed to deliver three monumental sculptures even after being paid millions of dollars to buy them. Movie Producer Joel Silver is too. Here is a response from the Larry Gagosian gallery as to why it was totally acceptable not to deliver the Jeff Koons' sculptures on time.
"…A gallery spokesperson tells The Blast, “”Mr. Koons has become a world-renowned artist because he approaches each piece with utmost integrity and attention to detail. He produces large, complex pieces of art that require master craftsmanship and take time to execute. Because of the unusual process used to create his pieces, and his impeccable standards for completion, his contracts for sale specifically state that the delivery dates are only estimates. For more than 30 years Jeff Koons has been creating works of art and to our knowledge, without exception, has never failed to deliver these works and always to the enormous satisfaction of the collector. Progress is being made on the pieces at issue in these litigations, and as always they will be delivered upon completion.…”
[Link]
I did some informal research of this quoted line of thought and this is what I learned: It seems to me that the spokesperson's comment may be questionable. (I originally wrote full of sh*t but I am not a lawyer nor qualified to speak to this point of law so take this an an unprofessional opinion only.)
Doing some legal research, this is what I found:
"...Untimely delivery without a legally viable excuse is a breach of contract (default). Under the American common law of contracts, […] if a party to a contract (the seller) materially breaches that contract without a legally viable excuse, the other party (the buyer) is freed of its obligations to the seller and is entitled to compensation for its damages. Thus, the buyer need not pay for any late-delivered goods and can recover any damages that it has suffered..."
[Link]
Nonetheless, is Jeff Koons' opinion that the art is not good enough yet for real? Is that a viable excuse? But a bigger question lurks... Did these two high end buyers truly change their minds because "artist" Jeff Koons is officially a "has been?"