Stephen Colbert introduced Jeff Koons as “the world's most expensive birthday clown” when the artist appeared on The Colbert Report in July. Later, he asked Koons why so many of his sculptures depict balloon animals. “Did a clown take it from you as a child or something?” he asked. “Are you trying to get it back…?” Not exactly, said Koons. “They're like us, we're balloons. You take a breath, you inhale and it's optimism. You exhale, it's kind of a symbol of death.” At Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills right now, there is a 20-foot tall, 3-D image of balloons that looks colored in with crayons and a shorter but still larger-than-life black granite gorilla standing guard nearby. 456 N. Camden Drive, Beverly Hills; through June 9. (310) 271-9400, gagosian.com.

Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: Dec. 7. Continues through Feb. 14, 2012

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