Famous shredded Banksy work to be auctioned
The value of the artwork has now quadrupled with an estimated selling price of £4-6m
Three years after Banksy’s famous image of a girl with a balloon was shredded during a live auction, the now legendary piece is set to go under the hammer.
The original work, formerly called ‘Girl With Balloon’ and now renamed ’Love is in the Bin’ will be auctioned at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction today (October 14).
The piece originally sold for $1.4m, before seconds later being fed through a shredder that was built into the frame.
The artwork only passed halfway through the shredder before it jammed, leaving the frills of the semi-destroyed art piece hanging below the frame.
Banksy wrote in a 2018 Instagram post at the time of the sale: “Some people think it didn’t really shred. It did. Some people think the auction house was in on it, they weren’t.”
The value of the piece has now quadrupled, with an estimated selling price of £4-6m.
In an Instagram post shared at the time in 2018, the anonymous British artist wrote: “Some people think it didn’t really shred. It did. Some people think the auction house was in on it, they weren’t.”
The video of the stunt went viral, where gasps and shock were witnessed in the auction room. But in a video shared to YouTube, the celebrated artist claimed he had intended for the whole painting to be destroyed.
Oliver Barker, Auctioneer and Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, said in a press release: “Auctions are live theatre, and as with any live production we need to prepare for all eventualities, but we were Banskyed, and you can never prepare yourself for that.
“Banksy is the ultimate art world outlaw, and in one exhilarating and shocking moment, Sotheby’s became the unwitting stage for his audacious piece of #loveisinthebin performance art. We are looking forward to welcoming Love is in the Bin back to the very rooms where it was created this autumn!”
Most recently, Stockport residents questioned if a new Banksy had been painted on the side of a pub in Heaton Mersey.
The painting on the side of The Griffin Hotel depicts a young boy in black and white, who is flying a yellow kite with a sad acid house style face.
However, it later transpired that the mural was actually the work of Salford artist Mr Eggs.
Bansky also recently claimed ownership of the series, titled ‘A Great British Spraycation’.
Other works appeared in East Anglian towns like Great Yarmouth, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, Gorleston-on-Sea, Cromer and King’s Lynn.