Going, going … gone: Banksy’s Girl with Balloon self-destructs after £1m auction
Buyers at Sotheby’s left gasping after artwork is shredded in stunt that may have doubled its value
IT was typical Banksy, leaving the audience wondering whether he was making a serious point about the impermanence of supposedly timeless works of art or just poking fun at the people who buy such pieces. Or both.
Whatever the motivation, when a painting by the street artist which had just been sold for more than £1million was shredded into small strips it left the crowd of buyers at Sotheby’s gasping.
On sale at the London auction house on Friday evening was a framed print of Girl with Balloon, one of Banksy’s most widely recognised works, showing a girl reaching towards a heartshaped balloon floating above her.
But moments after the hammer had gone down on a sale price of £1.04million, a shredder installed within the frame itself cut the print into narrow strips.
There is now speculation that the stunt could leave the shredded Banksy piece worth about twice as much as the price it went for.
MyArtBroker.com, which resells Banksy pieces, said Girl with Balloon had enjoyed increases in value of about 20 per cent a year in recent years.
“Prices now are regularly exceeding £115,000 for signed authenticated prints,” said its co-founder Joey Syer. “The auction result will only propel this further and given the media attention this stunt has received, the lucky buyer would see a great return on the £1.04million they paid last night.
“This is now part of art history in its shredded state, and we’d estimate Banksy has added at a minimum 50 per cent to its value, possibly as high as being worth £2million-plus.”
Posting a picture of the moment on Instagram, Banksy gave his own comment on the stunt, writing: “Going, going, gone …”
The piece, first painted by Banksy in 2006, was shown dangling in pieces from the bottom of the frame.
“It appears we just got Banksy-ed,” said Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s senior director and head of contemporary art in Europe.
The Bristol-born artist, whose iden- tity has never been officially revealed, despite frequent speculation, first attracted the attention of critics and the wider public through a series of graffiti pieces.
These were often bitingly satirical and appeared on buildings across the country, initially in Bristol and the south west. Girl with Balloon originally appeared on a wall in Great Eastern Street, London, and was voted the nation’s favourite artwork last year. The gallery version featured spray paint and acrylic on canvas, mounted on a board.
Friday’s self-destruction was the latest in a long history of anti-establish- ment statements by the street artist who has himself become part of the art royalty. Other recent works included the opening of Dismaland, his dystopian Disneyland-esque theme park in 2015, which he described as a “family theme park unsuitable for children”.
Sotheby’s refused to answer questions as to how much they knew about the stunt before the auction began or whether the buyer would be given the option of getting their money back.
Mr Branczik added: “We have talked with the successful purchaser, who was surprised by the story. We are in discussion about next steps.” However, some claimed on social media that Sotheby’s must have been involved in the prank. One said: “How did all of the experts at Sotheby’s who evaluated the piece fail to notice the piece contained a shredding mechanism?”
Others interpreted the shredding as a statement that art is made to be “experienced” and not owned.
Deborah Meaden, one of the Dragons’ Den panel, said: “Of course it’s a publicity stunt, but it’s publicising the sheer insanity of where we place our values.”
‘Of course it’s a publicity stunt, but it’s publicising the sheer insanity of where we place our values’