The story behind Koons' Cracked Egg

21-year-old art student reveals full story behind the creation of half-a-million dollar artwork

Our eyes were drawn to the 'Lives' section of the New York Times Magazine at the weekend and an article called “I Was Jeff Koons’s Studio Serf.” It's a great insight into the production methods of the contemporary artworld.

The “serf” star of the article is John Powers, who was a 21-year-old art student when he landed a job with Koons’s studio in 1995. He quotes Koons as saying in an interview, “I’m basically the idea person. I’m not physically involved in the production. I don’t have the necessary abilities, so I go to the top people.” Powers was assigned to helping Koons with a painting called “Cracked Egg.”

It's a meticulously told tale which details the five months he spent finishing the piece which eventually - spoiler alert - fell off a studio wall and was badly damaged. When Powers was told to try again he quit. “Cracked Egg” eventually sold at Christie’s for $501,933. Read the full story here.