LONDON (AP) – The Banksy art joker has hit again.

An elusive street artist's work seems to be self-destructing in front of surprise auctioneers Friday, moments after being sold for 1.04 million pounds ($ 1.4 million) ).

The spray-painted canvas "Girl With Balloon" has been sold at more than three times its pre-sale estimate at Sotheby's in London, at a record price for the artist.

Then, when an alarm sounded, she passed through a shredder embedded in the frame, emerging from the bottom into strips.

A post on Banksy's official Instagram account showed the moment – and the shocked reaction of those in the room – with the words "Going, go, gone …"

Sotheby's – who had noted prior to the sale that the golden frame of the work was "an essential element of the work chosen by Banksy himself" – said he was surprised at the # 39; incident.

"It seems that we have just received Banksy-ed," said Alex Branczik, head of the auction of contemporary European art at the auction house.

The auction house said to be in "discussion about the next steps" with the buyer. Some art market observers have suggested that the work may be worth more in its jagged state.

"We had never experienced this situation before." A painting was shredded spontaneously when he made a record for the artist, Branczik said. "We are in the process of determining what this means in the context of an auction."

Banksy is not the first artist to deconstruct his own work. In the years following the Second World War, the German artist Gustav Metzger was one of the pioneers of "self-destructive art" by creating acid paints that destroy the fabric.

Banksy, who has never revealed his complete identity, began his career in spray painting buildings in Bristol, England, and became one of the world's best-known artists. His mischievous and often satirical images include two policemen kissing, an armed riot police with yellow smiles and a chimpanzee carrying a sign with the words "Laugh now, but someday I'll be in charge." "

He also has a penchant for elaborate pranks.

In 2005, he hung on the British Museum an image of a former pioneer human being pushing a shopping cart to the store where he stayed for several days before being discovered. The following year, he smuggled to Disneyland a life-size figure of an inmate from Guantanamo Bay. In 2015, he built a large-scale dystopian amusement park – "Dismaland" – at the edge of the British seashore.

"Girl With Balloon", which depicts a little child reaching out to a heart – shaped red balloon, was originally stencilled on a wall in East London and was reproduced at the same time. infinite to become one of the most well-known images of Banksy.

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