When the artist pressed the button to move the picture through the shredder, moments after it sold for just over £1 million ($1.4 million) at a London auction, the painting unexpectedly stopped moving halfway through. Mehdi Ben Cheikh, a Parisian street art specialist, said the stunt was “in the same vein as his performance in New York, which questions and criticises the limits of the art market.'īanksy in 2013 set up a stand near the city’s Central Park and sold 20 signed canvases of his own work for $60 each.A new video from Banksy shows his “Girl With Balloon” picture frame outfitted with a secret paper shredder didn’t work exactly as planned. It was instantly recognisable as a Banksy to anyone familiar with his work. The spray paint and acrylic work on canvas and mounted on board - which was created in 2006 after first appearing as a mural in East London-depicted a girl reaching out toward a bright red, heart-shaped balloon. The price paid in London Friday evening for “Girl with Balloon' matched the artist’s previous record at a 2008 auction for another work, Sotheby’s said. His “Happy Choppers' from 2006 fetched $735,000 also on Friday at a New York auction of personal effects owned by the late actor Robin Williams and his wife. The artist has also produced a treasure trove of other kinds of images, and his head-turning work have repeatedly sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds, including to a raft of famous people. He rose to fame painting clandestine street murals, typically simple graffiti stencils with a sharp political point, all over the world. “We are in discussion about next steps.'īanksy, a mysterious artist from Bristol, southwest England, has never confirmed his real identity. “We have talked with the successful purchaser who was surprised by the story,' the auctioneers said in a statement to The Financial Times. Sotheby’s did not release details on the buyer, but reports said the winning bid was made by telephone. “The shredding is now part of the integral art work.' “We are busy figuring out what this means in an auction context,' he reportedly added. Sotheby’s, which could not be reached for further comment on Saturday, did not disclose if it had prior knowledge of the stunt.īranczik said he was “not in on the ruse', according to The Art Newspaper. The post, and reports of a man dressed in black sunglasses and a hat scuffling with security guards near the entrance to Sotheby’s shortly after the incident, led to speculation the artist was present to trigger it.

“The unexpected incident became instant art world folklore and certainly marks the first time in auction history that a work of art automatically shredded itself after coming under the hammer,' the auctioneers added in the statement.Įarlier Saturday, Banksy had posted a photo of the shredded work with a caption, imitating an auctioneer, that read: “going, going, gone'. “It appears we just got Banksy-ed,' said Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art for Europe, in a press release. 'The urge to destroy is also a creative urge' - PicassoĪ post shared by Banksy on at 10:09am PDT

Banksy balloon girl shred video