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The Girl With Ballon template was ripped moments after it sold for more than a million at Sotheby’s auction house in London.
The graffiti artist explained what he did in a video that he shared on his Instagram account.
He said: “A few years ago I secretly built a shredder into a painting in case it was ever put up auction…”
The caption of Banksy’s video was cryptic quoting Picasso and said: “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.”
Footage showed the artist installing the razor ends of the shredder into the frame.
It then showed the moment the artwork starts to self-destruct with the audience in disbelief.
The canvas, representing a young girl reaching for a heart-shaped red balloon, had just been sold for more than £1million when it “self-destructed.”
Shocked auction-goers filmed the moment the artwork passed through the shredders mere seconds after the piece went under the hammer.
An alarm can be heard blaring in the background as the canvas is slowly shredded into thin paper strips.
Two Sotheby’s employees can be seen towards the end of the video pulling the frame down the wall to then walk out from the auction room.
Sotheby’s senior director and head of contemporary art in Europe Alex Branczik said after the image was destroyed: “It appears we just got Banksey-ed.”
Experts believe this act has done the opposite of devaluing the art and that the stunt has generated even more interest.
The co-founder of MyArtBroker Joey Syer told the Mail Online: “The auction result will only propel this further and given the media attention this stunt has received, the lucky buyer would see a great return on the £1.04million they paid last night.
“This is now part of art history in its shredded state and we’d estimate Banksy has added at a minimum 50 percent increase to it’s value, possibly as high as being worth £2million plus.”
The auction house told the Financial Times: “We have talked with the successful purchaser who was surprised by the story.
“We are in discussion about the next step.”
Banksy, thought to be from Bristol, has never revealed his true identity but there are countless rumours about who he really is.
Some believe Banksy may actually be a loose collective of artists all using his trademark tag on their work.
Others say he is public schoolboy Robin Cunningham or Massive Attack member Robert “3D” Del Naja.
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