Banksy auction prank leaves art world in shreds

[muriel_volestrangler]

Banksy has played what could be one of the most audacious pranks in art history, with one of his best-known works self-destructing after being sold at auction for just over £1m.

Girl With Balloon was the final item in an auction at Sotheby’s in London on Friday night and its sale price equalled the artist’s previous auction record of £1.04m.

However, shortly after the hammer came down on the item, the canvas suddenly passed through a shredder installed in the frame.
...
Sotheby’s said in a statement to the Financial Times: “We have talked with the successful purchaser who was surprised by the story. We are in discussion about next steps.”

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/oct/06/banksy-sothebys-auction-prank-leaves-art-world-in-shreds-girl-with-balloon

In the video at the link, it was half shredded, with the upper half still intact, so the rest hangs from that. If it remained like that, it's still displayable.

[Dennis Donovan]

1. Does one keep it or get a refund?

I guess it could be pieced back together, but it's still artwork from Banksy (including the shredder-frame).

[underpants]

2. That's pretty damned funny

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. what's the problem?

Looks like active art to me.

[KCDebbie]

4. Yeah. The work might be worth even more now

That it is half-shredded....

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. The buyer may feel it was misrepresented

or they might like it as it is. We'll have to see. They might say they want it cheaper. After all, they might have bought it because they actually liked it, rather than wanting something controversial.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Half off the price then?

I know-->

[Donkees]

7. It's a Masterpiece Now!

[lame54]

9. Masterpieces

[Donkees]

11. :)

[MineralMan]

8. Comparing the background colors, it looks to

me as though the shredded portion is not what was displayed above. I suspect that original artwork has rolled inside the frame, and a separate copy went through the shredder, fed from another roller.

The frame is deep enough to handle both paths just fine.

But the shredded part isn't the same material as the part within the frame. Clearly.

[lame54]

10. Definitely worth looking into...

Either way it's pure Banksy and i would be proud to own it

[MineralMan]

12. It's outstanding pranking, to be sure.

I can just imagine the expressions on people's faces when it started whirring and the shredded portion appeared. A masterpiece of prankster performance art. And at a nice high price, too. I'll bet I'm right, though, and the original painting is intact, rolled up into the rear part of the frame box. We'll see. Maybe.

[LisaL]

20. I would not be a happy camper if I purchased something for that much money

and then it got shredded. Does the buyer still have to pay?

[MineralMan]

22. Given the notoriety of this prank, the thing is probably worth

more now than before the auction. The art world is an interesting place. Banksey is known for doing odd things. That video of the end of the auction may well add considerable value to the work, which was not complete until what happened happened. Whatever happened. I still say we don't know for sure. Until the back of the box is opened, it will remain unclear, and we may not find out what is revealed.

The mystery and shock are clearly part of the overall art of this thing. Now, that's not my cup of tea, as a viewer of art, but I don't have a million dollars, either, to spend on a picture.

[lame54]

23. That shredding probably doubled the value...

Seeing as who the artist is

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Perhaps, but the way light reflects off the shredded material could be different

since it's no longer flat. And it wouldn't have been hard to use the same material for both, so I wouldn't hang everything on this.

[MineralMan]

14. I don't think so. The background of the painting is

a bright, clean white. It's almost overstated, actually. The shredded portion is seriously yellowed, like old parchment. Now, if there were a strong heating element in the mechanism, along with the shredder blades, that effect could be realized, but not unless.

Those are, I'm almost 100% certain, two different materials. Looking at the boxed frame, I can see how I could build a double set of rollers in there to create the effect. No big deal, really.

The effect is the art. The painting, itself, isn't all that interesting, really, nor difficult to create. The illusion, on the other hand, is complicated and would have required some clever engineering. But, the two images are on different backgrounds, I'm certain.

Of course, the only way to be sure would be to remove the back of the box and peer inside.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. If you watch the video at the OP link, you see the frame was in a spotlight

I agree it's possible to have shredded a copy and hidden the original, but we can't tell from what we see.

[MineralMan]

17. If you look at the still image, you can see the shadow of the box on the shredded portion.

The lower part is in the light. Not as bright a light as the image in the frame, but bright enough to display as white if it is white.

The difference in coloration is just too large. Bright white backgrounds do not look yellow at lower lighting levels. They are still white, but less bright.

[blaze]

15. Here's the video Banksy posted on his Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/BomXijJhArX/?taken-by=banksy

[MineralMan]

18. The color change is still there. Even when they moved the

frame, what was inside it was still bright white, while the shredded portion was yellowish. Different objects, I think. In a way, though, that's an even better prank.

[LisaL]

19. I think somebody would have noticed by now if the original painting was intact.

The color difference is most likely the light reflection through the glass and not.

[MineralMan]

21. Perhaps.

Until the back of the frame box is removed, we won't know. And, since we don't own it, we can't do that. Stay tuned.

[cbdo2007]

24. Brilliant....

On one hand THAT is a brilliant piece of performance art about consumerism and the high cost of art...on the other hand, that may have doubled or tripled the actual value of that piece and will certainly bring even more attention to future pieces he has up for auction.