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Shredded Banksy Artwork Is Going Back On Sale And Estimated Value Has Gone Up

Shredded Banksy Artwork Is Going Back On Sale And Estimated Value Has Gone Up

Banksy's Girl With Balloon became Love is in the Bin after it was shredded at auction in 2018

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

The Banksy painting that was partially shredded moments after it was sold at auction is up for sale again - and this time it's likely to go for even more.

The elusive street artist auctioned off his iconic 'Girl With Balloon' piece inside a fancy gold frame in 2018.

But just moments after the top bid of £1.1 million ($1.5m) had been confirmed, the canvas started to feed through a secret shredder hidden inside the frame, leaving the artwork in tatters.

The painting, which has since been renamed 'Love is in the Bin', is going under the hammer at Sotheby's in October.

PA

It has an estimated price tag of a whopping £4-6 million.

The shredding of the painting hit headlines around the world - with Sotheby's calling it 'the first work in history ever created during a live auction'.

Speaking at the time, the buyer said: "When the hammer came down last week and the work was shredded, I was at first shocked, but gradually I began to realise that I would end up with my own piece of art history."

Afterwards, Banksy took to his Instagram to reveal that no one inside the auction house had any clue what was about to happen.

In 2018, he wrote: "Some people think it didn't really shred. It did. Some people think the auction house was in on it, they weren't."

This was mirrored by Alex Branczik, Sotheby's head of contemporary art in Europe at the time, who said: "Were we in on it? Absolutely not."

When asked how staff could have missed such a thing, he said they had been told the painting's frame was a key element of the work.

Speaking to The Art Newspaper, he explained: "Pest Control [Banksy's authentication board] said very clearly: the frame is integral to the art work.

PA

"Which it was, just not in the sort of way that we thought. We also had a third-party conservator look at the work."

He added: "You address what you see, it was more like a sculpture. If it says the frame is integral, you don't rip it apart."

Oh, and for anyone thinking the rest of the painting might get shredded after it sells next month - fear not, as the shredder has since been deactivated.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: UK News, Art, Banksy