Banksy shocks art world with self-destructing art work that was planned years ago
LONDON: British street artist Banksy stunned the art world with his most audacious prank yet, when one of his best-known works self-destructed soon after it fetched more than a million pounds at an auction here.
Girl with Balloon had just sold at Sotheby's on Friday for £1.042 million (S$1.9 million) when it was sent through a shredder hidden in the frame.
Banksy posted a video on Saturday on his Instagram page accompanied by a quote attributed to Pablo Picasso - "the urge to destroy is also a creative urge" - showing the stunt unfolding and how he pulled it off.
"A few years ago, I secretly built a shredder into a painting, in case it was ever put up for auction," read captions displayed over footage of a hooded man crafting the device into a frame.
The video later shows scenes from Sotheby's, where onlookers are left aghast as an alarm sounds and most of the image drops down through the frame and is left shredded.
A spokesman for Sotheby's said:"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."
Earlier Saturday, Banksy had posted a photo of the shredded work with a caption that read "going, going, gone".
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.
Sotheby's did not release details on the buyer, but reports said the winning bid was made by telephone.
"We have talked with the successful purchaser who was surprised by the story," the auctioneers said in a statement to The Financial Times. "We are in discussion about next steps." - AFP
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