UNCATEGORIZED
Artist Banksy Shocks Auction Goers As $1.4 Million Painting Shreds
Oct 6, 2018, 1:38 PM | Updated: 10:28 pm
Photo via Banksy Instagram Page
LONDON – “Going, going, gone…” is the caption Banksy included on his Instagram page with a photo of his painting Girl With Balloon half shredded after it sold at auction for $1.4 million.
The artist, who is anonymous and known for his stunts, may have just pulled off his most perfect art-world prank.
The piece was auctioned Friday at Sotheby’s Auction House in London and moments after the gavel fell, the art started to shred itself.
A shredder hidden inside the frame of the painting caused the work to “self-destruct”, according to a news release from Sotheby’s.
Banksy included a video of the moment on his Instagram page. Auction goers stared stunned as his art reduced to shreds. He shows video of what is assumed to be him building the shredder into the frame. Words over the video read:
“A few years ago I secretly built a shredder into a painting in case it was ever put up for auction…”
He captioned the video with a quote from Picasso, “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.”
The video has been viewed on Instagram more than one million times.
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*Information gathered through CNN and Banksy Instagram page
