HE became known as the “king of kitsch” for sculpting himself having sex with his porn star wife.

Now the American artist Jeff Koons is building one of the world’s most expensive artworks – a 161ft sculpture of a crane hauling up a reproduction steam locomotive.

The total cost of making the steel and aluminium work, which will produce its own steam and whose wheels will turn, will be an estimated £18m. This beats the £13.2m cost of the gems and platinum in the Damien Hirst skull sculpture For the Love of God.

The work, called Train, has been commissioned from Koons, 54, by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

It is based on a 1943 Baldwin steam engine built at a plant in Pennsylvania. The engine will be 70ft long, hanging from the much taller, red and yellow crane. It is expected to take four years to build.

Koons gained notoriety with portrayals of himself entwined with his then wife Ilona Staller, better known as La Cicciolina, who starred in pornographic films and was elected to the Italian parliament in 1987. The couple split up in 1992.

His other works have included a gold-leafed statue of the pop star Michael Jackson cuddling his pet chimp Bubbles, as well as various sculptures of luridly coloured puppies.

In the March issue of The Art Newspaper, Koons is quoted as saying: “We’re talking of a $25m [£17.6m] work.” The cost of buying, building and constructing was confirmed by the director of the museum.

“This Koons work sounds absolutely extraordinary,” said Antony Gormley, sculptor of the Angel of the North, which cost just under £1m.

According to reports from Los Angeles, Koons has been inspired by the elegance of the old engine and “its sexuality”. This means the artist is keen for the train to “perform”.

Three times a day the engine will be started, steam produced and the wheels will start to move.

“It will accelerate faster and faster until it reaches an orgasm,” said Koons. “Then, it will lose its speed while the last drops of steam come out.”

Matthew Collings, the television art critic, said: “I have to say that I rather like the sound of it. Koons may do comic sculptures, but he is an artist of our times.”

Other costly artistic constructions, in addition to those by Koons and Hirst, have included Richard Serra’s giant steel circles, called The Matter of Time, at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain, which cost £14m to make.

Mark Wallinger’s 164ft white stallion, which will be erected in Kent, is expected to require £2m to be built.

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