Watch a Banksy Painting Self-Destruct Seconds After Selling for $1.4 Million at Auction
Going, going, gone.
Banksy may be the art world's most coveted current master, but he's known at least as well for very publically pranking the crowds that flood auction houses and gallery spaces for a chance to "capture" a piece of his work.
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Take, for instance, this past week, when a Sotheby's auction in London came completely undone in the moments following the gavel's clank on an iconic piece from the slippery stuntman. Just seconds after the acrylic on canvas of a little girl reaching for a heart-shaped balloon closed for $1.4 million, the piece slipped through a paper shredder rigged into its frame, literally self-destructing upon sale.
READ: Banksy Debuts Two New Murals in Tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat
The artist posted a video to Instagram of himself building the booby-trapped containment unit along with a clip of the precise moment at which it was activated during the auction, scanning the audience of brokers and bidders for their mortified faces. There were countless. That video too has seemingly self-destructed, though it all lives on through the internet, as a Twitter user has uploaded a screen recording. You can watch it below.
