Shredded Banksy artwork ‘Love is in the Bin’ sells for record US$25.4 million
- The sum is close to 20 times what the piece originally fetched three years ago, right before it sensationally ‘self-destructed’ upon sale
- The work features a half-shredded canvas in an ornate frame bearing the UK artist’s famous image of a girl reaching for a red heart-shaped balloon
A work by British street artist Banksy that sensationally self-shredded just after it sold at auction three years ago fetched almost £18.6 million (US$25.4 million) on Thursday – a record for the artist, and close to 20 times its pre-shredded price.
Love is in the Bin was offered by Sotheby’s in London, with a presale estimate of £4 million to £6 million.
After a 10-minute bidding war involving nine bidders in the saleroom, online and by phone, it sold for three times the high estimate. The sale price of £18,582,000 includes a sales tax known as a buyer’s premium.
The piece consists of a half-shredded canvas in an ornate frame bearing a spray-painted image of a girl reaching for a heart-shaped red balloon.
When it last sold at Sotheby’s in October 2018, the piece was known as Girl With Balloon. Just as an anonymous European buyer made the winning bid – for £1 million – a hidden shredder embedded in the frame by Banksy whirred to life, leaving half the canvas hanging from the frame in strips.