Banksy admits shredding stunt didn't go as planned

World
Europe

Banksy has admitted that one of his biggest pranks yet didn't really go according to plan.

The British street artist created an art world sensation by sending one of his paintings through a shredder that was hidden in the frame moments after it sold at auction for 1,042,000 pounds (1.4 million US dollars).

Experts say the "Girl with Balloon" is now probably worth even more because the stunt created a media stir that made many reassess their understanding of performance art.

But there was always a nagging question: Why did only half the painting slip through the frame? Was there a deeper meaning? Did Banksy -- whose identity is known only to a select group of loyal friends -- try to tell us something we are still failing to grasp?

The secretive artist admitted on a video posted on his Instagram account this week that the real answer was much simpler.

The painting got stuck.

Screenshot of Banksy's Instagram account. /Photo via Instagram

In the three-minute clip, titled "Shred the Love - the Director's Cut," a white man with a hoody puts a shredder and the painting "Girl With Baloon" in a frame.

The camera then turns to Sotheby's auction on October 5. Just after the hammer came down to settle the offer for the painting, someone pressed a button on a black box, and the bottom half of the painting was shredded and loud beeping sounds can be heard in the background.

People were startled at first but then then burst into laughter.

"In rehearsal it worked every time," the artist wrote at the end of the clip showing how he practiced sending an identical painting through a shredder in a frame. The entire thing sailed straight through.

Previously, on October 7, he posted a shorter footage with a saying from Picasso: "The urge to destroy is also a creative urge".

At the start of the one-minute clip, he wrote, "A few years ago, I secretly built a shredder into a painting, in case it was ever put up for auction..."

Most of his Instagram followers think the stunt was cool. One poster, with the username genuine_andee, said, "You took Performance Art to a whole other level! Love it!"

The damaged work has been given a new name "Love is in the Bin", and is expected to be purchased by the original buyer from the auction.

(Top image: Sotheby's employees unveil Banksy's "Love is in the Bin" after the art work was partially shredded at the end of the auction after the hammer came down at 1,042,000 pounds. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP