Page 11 - IAV Digital Magazine #460

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
How Banksy Pulled Off The Biggest Prank Ever
By Natasha Christian
IT’S quite possibly the biggest prank in art history.
Mysterious street artist Banksy rigged one of his best-known works to self-destruct minutes after being sold at auc- tion for $A1.7 mil- lion.
The 2006 work Girl With Balloon was the final item in an auction at Sotheby’s in London on October 5.
Shortly after the bid was called, an alarm sounded inside the frame and the painting started to shred to pieces in front of shocked onlook- ers.
In an intriguing Instagram post, Banksy has revealed how he carried off the biggest art hoax
ever.
The British artist — whose identity has long been the topic of debate — quoted Picasso in his post: “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge”.
In the accompany- ing video, he showed a shred- der being fitted to the frame of the painting in a work- shop.
The footage opened with the caption: “A few years ago, I secretly built a shredder into a painting.”
The clip shows a hooded figure put- ting the finishing touches on the device, before text appears on the screen saying: “In case it was ever put up for auction.”
Despite accusatons on social media that the stunt was a
set-up, Sotheby’s maintained it was not in on the prank.
“It appears we just got Banksy-ed!” Alex Branczik, the head of contempo- rary art, Europe said.
“He is arguably the greatest British street artist, and tonight we saw a little piece of Banksy genius,” he said.
“We are busy fig- uring out what this means in an auc- tion context.
“The shredding is now part of the integral art work. We have not experienced a sit- uation where a painting has spon- taneously shred- ded, upon achiev- ing a record for the artist.”
The Financial Times reported the vendor selling the piece had
acquired it from the anonymous artist himself. It’s been pointed out that the stunt would have required Banksy or someone working for the artist to be in the room to acti- vate the shredder.
“A man dressed in
black sporting sun- glasses and a hat was seen scuffling with security guards near the entrance to Sotheby’s shortly after the inci- dent,” The Art Newspaper claimed.
It’s unclear what
will happen to the artwork from here but Mr Branczik said it’s possible that it was more valuable now.
“It’s certainly the first piece to be spontaneously shredded as an auction ends,” he said.
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine