Banksy built a shredder right into a the frame which mounted his famous work Girl with Balloon.
Just in case some auction house decided to go against his wishes.
So they did…
…by the time the auctioneer’s hammer fell on the winning bid … the built in shredder shredded the master piece.
Thank you, Banksy!
That is…
…The most glorious thing I have ever seen.
So you don’t think the auction house knew anything about it, huh?
You don’t think that frame was x-rayed?
Is it worth more now? Or less?
The closing bid was something like 1.2million.
Even though they deny it, I suspect the auction house (Sotheby’s) was in on the stunt. It was the last auction of the day and the painting was hung on the wall instead of held by an easel, which according to news reports was unusual. And the thick frame and weight of the thing, I think, would have tipped off Sotheby’s even if they weren’t in on it. And what about the seller — according to news reports, it wasn’t even Banksy, but was, instead, someone he sold the painting to several years ago (which seems unlikely to me).
As always with Banksy, there’s lots of mystery and controversy surrounding it, which is, of course, intentionally manipulative and at the heart of his work. I suspect the partially shredded painting is worth more now than before since this whole thing has made it famous. Just for the record, I’ve never liked his work.
If it isn’t standard procedure to X-ray something like that, it will be from now on.
Exacto blades, electronics and wires…in a room full of top bidders?
I actually do like a lot of his earlier wall work. The performance stuff, not so much.
So the painting knew when to self destruct? That is one smart painting! 
LOL
Just another stunt for more publicity as far as I’m concerned. I could really care less. I have always had a major problem with millions being spent on this sort of stuff. To each his own.
From what I read, this painting could be valued 3 to 5x what the winning bid was. (1.4M)
It’s definitely worth more now that it’s shredded.
I agree no art is worth this kind of money, but people with endless money will pay almost any price for something they want.
Remote controlled.
This guy suggests it was all a hoax. The real painting rolls up at the bottom and a preshredded copy comes out the bottom. Something about the exacto blades being aligned the wrong way to supposedly shred.
Hmmm, this would also explain why the shredded canvas had that puzzling and unlikely uniform bend toward its bottom edge. If the bottom of the pre-shredded copy was already wrapped around the roller that forced it out (which would have been necessary to ensure that the strips came out evenly), that portion of the painting would, over the months it was in the frame, take on the shape of the roller — just like it has in the photo.
Banksy supposedly didn’t even own the painting since he had supposedly sold it to the person who auctioned it off months earlier. Shredding a million-plus dollar painting that belonged to someone else would be a criminal act. Auctioning off something that was different from what it was purported to be would also constitute fraud. Would Banksy risk a criminal indictment and possible jail time over this? I don’t think so. I suspect the entire thing was a hoax based around a magic trick and that all the relevant players were in on it.
This doesn’t, however, make the painting (or whatever it’s called at this point) any less valuable. It’s still the most famous stunt Banksy’s pulled off, and now this is his most famous (and valuable) work.
Shredding the Girl and Balloon - The Director’s Cut