Jitters for Bansky sale
Paris
– Paris auction house Artcurial held its breath yesterday ahead of the sale of four works by Banksy, unsure what to expect following the enigmatic artist’s shredding of a painting just moments after it went under the hammer.
Artcurial said security would be tight for last night’s sale and that this time, no hidden shredding devices appeared to be concealed in the frames.
But with Banksy, you just never know.
“We are going to be particularly vigilant. We’ve put security measures in place but we’ll be looking to keep it discreet and as light as possible,” Arnaud Oliveux, the contemporary art specialist in charge of the sale, said.
“There won’t be 10 heavies in every room,” he added.
Banksy, a British street artist whose identity is known to only a handful of friends, caused a sensation this month when one of his paintings began shredding itself, just after selling for $1.4 million (about R19.8 million).
Experts say Girl with Balloon is now probably worth even more because the stunt created such a massive media stir.
Oliveux predicted that if anything out of the ordinary happens in Paris, “it won’t be a repeat” of the stunt that shocked the world at Sotheby’s in London. –