An anonymous England-based street artist Banksy, known for its subversive art, graffiti and dark humour played a prank on the visitors of Sotheby art auction in London.
A stencil spray framed painting ‘Girl With Balloon’ shredded itself after it was auctioned for more than £1m.
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The frame of the much-talked-about painting shows a girl reaching towards a heart-shaped balloon. However, moments after the piece went under the hammer, the canvas passed through a shredder that was hidden inside the frame and destroyed itself.
Taking it to Instagram, Banksy posted a picture of the moment and wrote, “Going, going, gone…” The post documents the shredding of the painting and the sheer baffled expressions of the onlookers.
Lo último: @banksy destruye sí #GWRB Girl With Red Balloon, antes que cayera el mazo en plena subasta en Sotheby's.
Subasta iba el 860,000£@jaimesancristo pic.twitter.com/a10DlEnLbi
— Vanessa N. Hernandez (@VanessaVonZed) October 6, 2018
The 2006 piece sold for £1.042m on Friday night, reports the BBC.
Meanwhile, Sotheby’s senior director and head of contemporary art in Europe, Alex Branczik said, “It appears we just got Banksy-ed.”