A Banksy artwork which was shredded at a previous auction has sold this week for £16million.
‘Love Is In The Bin’ was what was left of Banksy’s live destruction of his artwork ‘Girl with Ballon’, which sold at auction for £1million in 2018.
The picture famously “self destructed” remotely moments after selling and the incident in what became one of the artist’s most famous publicity stunts. Shortly after the original sold, Banksy published a video of himself pushing a button marked “self destruct.”
Posting on Instagram, the anonymous artist said at the time: “Some people think it didn’t really shred. It did. Some people think the auction house were in on it, they weren’t.”
Sotheby’s, where the auction was again held yesterday, said the “decommissioned, remote controlled shredding mechanism” was still in the frame.
The artwork, which you can see below, went up for auction in London on Thursday (October 14) and sold for £16million, which was £4-6million over its guide price. With the buyers premium attached, the purchaser of the artwork paid £18.5million in total.
After the last bid, auctioneer Oliver Barker joked he was relieved that the artwork was “still there”. He added: “I can’t tell you how terrified I am to bring down this hammer.”
In a thrilling evening of art, Sotheby's returned to in-person sales with a record-breaking Contemporary Art Evening Auction on New Bond Street. The sale included Banksy's infamous work 'Love is in the Bin'. https://t.co/FeZRPdml7V.
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) October 14, 2021
Back in August, Banksy unveiled a series of new artworks online, in a video called A Great British Spraycation.
The anonymous Bristol-based graffiti artist posted the video in which he could be seen spraying a number of new artworks around seaside locations in Norfolk and Suffolk.
On East Beach in Cromer, Banksy sprayed a group of crabs holding a sign which reads: “luxury rentals only”. One of the other new artworks shows a giant seagull hovering above a skip, while another shows two children in a boat with the caption: “we’re all in the same boat”.
On Admiralty Road in Great Yarmouth, Banksy sprayed a couple dancing above a bus shelter while a further clip shows a cocktail-sipping rat sitting on a deckchair at the seafront.
Passers by can also be seen commenting on the artworks in the video; one clip shows a woman describe one of his new pieces as “mindless vandalism”.
Back in June, Banksy lost the trademarks to two more of his iconic works.
Last year, he also lost a legal battle over his famous Flower Thrower artwork, which shows a masked protester throwing a bouquet of flowers and first appeared on a wall in Jerusalem in 2005.
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