Hollywood producer Joel Silver will get an $8 million Jeff Koons sculpture after all.
Silver, who produced “The Matrix,” “Die Hard” and “Lethal Weapon,” sued the Gagosian Gallery for not delivering “Balloon Venus Hohlen Fels,” a Koons sculpture that Silver agreed to buy in 2014. But after a $3.2 million down payment and a two-year delay, Silver was no closer to getting a new delivery date, so he sued in New York State Supreme Court.
Gagosian argued that Silver was behind on the payments for the sculpture, and Koons was slated to testify May 28. The testimony was delayed, and the case was settled out of court on May 31.
Gagosian sources say the case was settled after billionaire Ron Perelman, who had his own beef with Gagosian, was outed for paying Silver’s legal fees. Perelman sued Gagosian in 2012 over allegedly inflated prices for art by Koons, Cy Twombly and others for about $45 million, including a delayed delivery of Koons’ “Popeye,” which Perelman bought for $4 million. That case was dismissed in 2014.
In court, Silver said the fact that Perelman paid the legal fees was irrelevant. Perelman’s rep tells us he “stepped up to help a friend.”
Koons agreed to deliver five sculptures in different colors in 2014 to different collectors. Another collector, Steven Tananbaum, a Museum of Modern Art trustee and asset- management executive, filed a separate suit to get his sculpture. That case is ongoing.