Aside from his stunning artwork, Banksy is also well-known for his stunts.
Yesterday, at Sotheby’s auction house in London, Banksy’s Girl with Balloon painting was sold for a hefty price tag of $1.4 million. Moments after, a hidden shredder located inside the frame of the painting started to “self-destruct” the painting.
The anonymous British graffiti artist himself confirmed he was planning this occurrence for years in advance. He posted a video on his Instagram that details how he purposely planted the shredder in the frame years ago and planned to set it off if this piece of art were to ever be sold.
The consensus is that Banksy was in the room the auction was held in and he had a remote to that triggered the shredder. It’s worth noting that the frame was not plugged into anything at the time.
Back in 2008, the auction price of $1.4 million was the previous record set by Banksy, which was tied last night by Girl with Balloon.