The recession seems to have hit the artists as well. Its latest victim is art fabricator Carlson $ Co. famous for producing Jeff Koons’s stainless steel “Balloon Dogâ€. New York art adviser Allan Schwartzman says that ever since 1971, when the San Fernando, California based company was founded, “Many artists trying to make work that involves high-tech and precise execution would go to Carlson and they could often figure things out that no one else couldâ€. The firm can boast of fabricating some of the most technically challenging artworks produced from 2002 onwards which saw contemporary art prices soar.
Company founder Peter Carlson said that they will be filing something “akin†to bankruptcy. “The economic climate contributed very much to the condition we find ourselves in. We had expectations that we would be able to work a solution to this problem, and ultimately we weren’t able to,†Carlson fired the entire workforce of 95 employees last week in anticipation of the closing.
Carlson fabricated Koons’s “Balloon Dog†sculptures, now valued at more than $20 million apiece and owned by billionaires including SAC Capital’s Steven Cohen, Eli Broad and Francois Pinault. Carlson has also produced the works of dozens of top contemporary artists, including Doug Aiken, John McCracken and Charles Ray.
Via: Bloomberg , Calson And Co
