Mysterious street artist Banksy is known for creating art that makes a statement on politics and culture, but it appears his latest work is a very pricey prank on the art world itself. “Girl With Balloon,” which depicts a small child reaching up towards a heart-shaped red balloon, was originally stenciled on a wall in east London and has been endlessly reproduced, becoming one of Banksy’s best-known images. A work by the elusive street artist apparently self-destructed in front of startled auction-goers on Friday – moments after it was sold for 1.04 million pounds ($1.4 million). “It appears we just got Banksy-ed,” Sotheby’s senior director Alex Branczik said in a statement that described the incident as “the first time in auction history that a work of art automatically shredded itself after coming under the hammer.”

The incident spurred questions about how Banksy had pulled it off and whether he had been at the auction in disguise. We have not experienced a situation where a painting has spontaneously shredded, upon achieving a record for the artist.”

Banksy later posted a video to Instagram that showed footage of a shredding mechanism being built into the frame for, presumably, “Girl with Red Balloon.”

“A few years ago I secretly built a shredder into a painting,” he stated in the video text, “in case it was ever put up for auction…”

The video then jumped to clips of Friday’s auction at Sotheby’s, indicating that Banksy – or someone who works with him – was there when it happened.
At an auction in London, the painting Girl with Balloon by Banksy self-destructs through a built-in shredder hidden in the frame after selling for US$1.4 million.