Banksy artwork self-destructs after selling for $1.4M
Artist's canvas suddenly passed through shredder installed in frame
Art prankster Banksy has struck again.
A work by the elusive street artist self-destructed in front of startled auction-goers on Friday, moments after being sold for 1.04 million pounds ($1.4 million US).
The spray-painted canvas Girl with Balloon went under the hammer at Sotheby's in London, fetching more than three times its pre-sale estimate and equalling a record price for the artist.
Then, as an alarm sounded, it ran through a shredder embedded in the frame, emerging from the bottom in strips.
A post on Banksy's official Instagram account showed the moment — and the shocked reaction of those in the room — with the words "Going, going, gone..."
"It appears we just got Banksy-ed," said Alex Branczik, head of contemporary European art at Sotheby's.
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The auction house said it was "in discussion about next steps" with the buyer.
"We have not experienced this situation in the past where a painting spontaneously shredded, upon achieving a record for the artist," Branczik said. "We are busily figuring out what this means in an auction context."
Banksy, who has never disclosed his full identity, began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world's best-known artists. His mischievous and often satirical images include two policemen kissing, armed riot police with yellow smiley faces and a chimpanzee with a sign bearing the words "Laugh now, but one day I'll be in charge."
He has a penchant for elaborate pranks. In 2005, he hung an image of a spear-toting ancient human pushing a shopping cart in the British Museum, where it remained for several days before being discovered. The next year he smuggled a life-sized figure of a Guantanamo Bay detainee into Disneyland.
Girl With Balloon, which depicts a small child reaching up toward a heart-shaped red balloon, was originally stenciled on a wall in east London and has been endlessly reproduced, becoming one of Banksy's best-known images.