Banksy posted a new video on his website, explaining that the partial shredding of his “Girl With A Balloon,” was actually a mistake, and the artwork was supposed to have been completely destroyed.
The video shows the famously anonymous artist creating the shredding mechanism inside an ornate frame and pushing a button in a black box to activate the destruction at Sotheby’s in London earlier this month, reports Time. The winning bidder, a European collector, decided to still buy the painting anyway for $1.4 million.
The partial shredding shocked the audience, and drew speculation that the act was a stunt to increase the value of the painting. But at the end of Banksy’s video, it notes, “In rehearsals it worked every time…” and a complete shredding of the same design is then shown.
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