$1.4 million Banksy painting 'self-destructs'immediately after auction

Updated:7 years, 1 month ago

London (United Kingdom), Oct 07 (ANI): Anonymous England-based artist Banksy, known for his subversive art, graffiti and dark humour played an unforgettable prank on the visitors of Sotheby art auction in London. Banksy shared a video of the event on his Instagram, captioned, "The urge to destroy is also a creative urge"- Picasso. Banksy's painting "Girl with balloon" was shredded into pieces as a part at the auction after being sold off for 1.4 million US Dollars, reported CNN. The frame of the much-talked about painting portraying a girl reaching out for a red, heart-shaped balloon destroyed itself as there was a shredder hidden inside the "artist's frame". Banksy also wrote a post on the social networking site Instagram with the caption, "Going, Going, Gone." The post documents the shredding of the painting and the sheer baffled expressions of the on lookers. Sotheby's senior director of contemporary art Alex Branczik said in the news release, "It appears we just got Banksy-ed." The shredder placed at the bottom of the frame started operating right after the auction. It is suspected that it was being controlled using a remote.