Perhaps part of the verification process involved double checking everything within the frame. Pest Control is Banksy’s “handling service”, which will go out to verify supposed Banksy pieces to try to make sure no one drops a pile of cash on a one-of-a-kind Borksy. The Sotheby’s listing for the piece notes that it was “Authenticated by Pest Control”. Keeping a battery ready and waiting for 12 years seems… unlikely. Both the speakers in the frame and the motors of the shredder would require a power source. The piece itself is detailed as having been given to its previous owner by Banksy in 2006. Meanwhile, a news post on Artsy suggests that the shred could’ve been triggered by someone in the audience with “a device in his hand”.īut what about power? In a video of the piece being removed post-shreddage, there doesn’t seem to be any wires behind the frame, nor anything plugged in.
#BANKSY SHRED VIDEO SERIES#
It appears that the “shredder” is a series of X-acto style blades which the canvas was raked over. In the same video, it’s claimed that this was all put in process “a few years ago”. "The urge to destroy is also a creative urge" – PicassoĪ post shared by Banksy on at 10:09am PDT
#BANKSY SHRED VIDEO UPDATE#
Update - here’s the video, as reposted by Banksy: It shows what looks to be the inside of the frame (which, in hindsight, seems comically large), shredder and all: So how did it all work? Writer Zoe Smith shared a video on Twitter this morning that she notes appeared briefly on Banksy’s Instagram before being pulled down (Update: it’s now back up! See below). Or technically those piece s, I guess.Ĭuriously, the canvas didn’t make it all the way through the shredder - did it jam, or was that intentional? By leaving about 1/3 of the print in the frame, the shredded bits are left attached and dangling… thus preventing them from splitting the pile of shreds into 50 more auctions with everyone vying for a slice. If people with mountains of cash are buying art to have a ridiculously rare conversation piece that they hope others recognize, this one just rocketed up the list.
Of course, it’s easy to argue that the whole thing makes the piece even more desirable, because, well… art. This seems to be Banksy’s latest way of expressing their discontent. The anonymous artist has long expressed a dislike of art galleries reselling their works, down to creating a piece featuring an audience of bidders battling over a print that reads, simply, “I can’t believe you morons actually buy this shit”. Seconds later, the canvas slid through the bottom of the frame, now almost entirely shredded.
As the auction came to a close with a final bid of £860,000 (a little over $1.1 million), the print’s frame began… beeping. Right in front of an audience of would-be buyers.Ī framed canvas version of Banksy’s Girl with Balloon was set to be auctioned at Sothebys in London. In what might be the most ridiculous stunt ever pulled in the art world, a Banksy piece has, in a sense, self-destructed.
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