Banksy painting sold for $1.1 million at auction, immediately self-destructs

"It appears we just got Bansky-ed"

Banksy has stayed true to form with his latest semi-protest after selling a painting at Sotheby's Auction House, New York, before having it self-destruct. It might just have been mildly irritating for the winning bidder, who had just spent $1.1 million (£838,418) on a print of Banksy's iconic 'Girl with Balloon'. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bokt2sEhlsu/?taken-by=banksy As soon as the hammer struck on the winning bid, an alarm started sounding and the painting began to slowly drop down through its frame - which just so happened to be a shredder - tearing up the print in the process. “It appears we just got Banksy-ed,”, admitted Alex Branczik, head of contemporary art at Sotheby's. He claims that the New York auction house were completely unaware of the stunt, saying “The shredding is now part of the integral art work. We have not experienced a situation where a painting has spontaneously shredded, upon achieving a record for the artist.” https://www.instagram.com/p/BokJu75D40_/?taken-by=iknowaguy.gallery Banksy's identity continues to remain a mystery that doesn't appear to be solved anytime soon.