Artist’s canvas suddenly passed through shredder installed in frame<\/h2>\n\nThe Associated Press \u00b7 <\/span>Posted: Oct 06, 2018 6:35 AM ET | Last Updated: 11 hours ago<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.4853420.1538822004!\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/16x9_780\/britain.jpg\")
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A gallery technician adjusts Banksy’s artwork Balloon Girl in London on Feb. 2, 2007. (Luke MacGregor\/Reuters)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\nArt prankster Banksy has struck again.<\/p>\n
A work by the elusive street artist self-destructed in front of startled auction-goers on Friday, moments after being sold for 1.04 million pounds ($1.4 million US).<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nThe spray-painted canvas Girl with Balloon w<\/em>ent under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London, fetching more than three times its pre-sale estimate and equalling a record price for the artist.<\/p>\nThen, as an alarm sounded, it ran through a shredder embedded in the frame, emerging from the bottom in strips.<\/p>\n
A post on Banksy’s official Instagram account showed the moment \u2014 and the shocked reaction of those in the room \u2014 with the words “Going, going, gone…”<\/p>\n
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Image source @Bansky<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
“It appears we just got Banksy-ed,” said Alex Branczik, head of contemporary European art at Sotheby’s.<\/p>\n
The auction house said it was “in discussion about next steps” with the buyer.<\/p>\n
“We have not experienced this situation in the past where a painting spontaneously shredded, upon achieving a record for the artist,” Branczik said. “We are busily figuring out what this means in an auction context.”<\/p>\n
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A gallery technician adjusts Banksy’s artwork Balloon Girl in London on Feb. 2, 2007. (Luke MacGregor\/Reuters)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Art prankster Banksy has struck again.<\/p>\n A work by the elusive street artist self-destructed in front of startled auction-goers on Friday, moments after being sold for 1.04 million pounds ($1.4 million US).<\/p>\n The spray-painted canvas Girl with Balloon w<\/em>ent under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London, fetching more than three times its pre-sale estimate and equalling a record price for the artist.<\/p>\n Then, as an alarm sounded, it ran through a shredder embedded in the frame, emerging from the bottom in strips.<\/p>\n A post on Banksy’s official Instagram account showed the moment \u2014 and the shocked reaction of those in the room \u2014 with the words “Going, going, gone…”<\/p>\n Image source @Bansky<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “It appears we just got Banksy-ed,” said Alex Branczik, head of contemporary European art at Sotheby’s.<\/p>\n The auction house said it was “in discussion about next steps” with the buyer.<\/p>\n “We have not experienced this situation in the past where a painting spontaneously shredded, upon achieving a record for the artist,” Branczik said. “We are busily figuring out what this means in an auction context.”<\/p>\n