Each age gets the artists and politicians it deserves. ...

Amazing. Shredder starts as gavel falls..



Someone apparently snagged video off Instagram of the backstory, etc. Link to tweet if link above doesn't work.

I'll be really curious to hear the story on this--was it really a long-con, or what? How long has the work been in the frame, where's it been, etc ... but whatever, that's just me being curious, the guy is a genius.

Apparently the brochure made clear reference to the oversized frame.

Obviously long planned and potentially even increases the value of the work.

yeah, who ever bought that just made a sick profit.


haha, would be sick if they could somehow hold him liable for destruction and out him

Does anyone know for sure if the whole thing got shredded.

In all the photos and vids I've seen, it appears that the shredding stops about halfway through the page.

I saw a video and it looks like it stopped halfway, they pulled it off the wall with it dangling like you see in all the photos, so unless later on it got shredded the whole way thats where it stopped.

Makes sense, it looks more like an art piece with half of it hanging out, than if it shredded all the way and was a bunch of strips on the floor all mixed up and having to be handled and what not.

How did the shredder activate?

Making the thing more valuable seems to kind of defeat the purpose. Would have been better if it had been destroyed completely

Gimmicky. Banksy was where it was at like 15 years ago.

Apparently someone at the auction had a remote control.

I'm curious if the half-shred was a mistake--the shredder stopped for some reason before completing its job--or if it was designed to only shred half and essentially leave it intact as a piece of art. ....

Either way it's pretty impressive. That it's been decades and his identity is not known for certain (is it?), is an amazing feat.

Maybe. But only partially shredding it seems like a very unBanksy-like half-measure. He always seems to go for maximum impact. I'd believe malfunction over intentionally shredded only half.

Shredding it halfway has more impact in some ways as people aren't sure if it was meant to stop shredding or not.

woulda been cool if it also somehow set nearby artworks on fire

Insane to me the gallery didn’t know.

This can only increase the value probably by a lot, i’d be stoked if I was the buyer.

I think if they gallery knows, then legally they may have to make some sort of disclosure. So, if Banksy tells them, then it ruins the whole thing. He can't let them know.

It seems hard to believe the gallery didn't know. Wouldn't somebody inspect it before auction to make sure there's no damage? If someone looked at the frame closely to inspect for damage wouldn't they see a slot in the bottom of the frame, wonder what that's for, shine a flashlight in there and get suspicious?

With regard to the shredder "jamming", there's no way it stopped shredding accidentally. The end result is just too perfect to be coincidence.

Perhaps, but it's not that unbelievable that he was able to conceal it in the frame in such a way that it was unlikely to be found. That's where the real art is. I'm sure if he spent weeks on it, he could pull off something very convincing.

I think this is subject to interpretation. I think it would have been way more perfect if the whole thing shredded. But I can understand that others would have the opposite view.

Yea this. I think it would be super suspicious for the weight of the frame for them not to take a closer look.

I think the risk of litigation would be much higher, and likely to succeed, if he'd shredded the whole thing. As played, there's zero chance anyone gets sued. This is a win win for all parties involved.

ETA:
There will probably be a lawsuit but it'll be someone thinking their entitled to a larger piece of the pie now that this thing has increased in value so much. I'm sure there were plenty of people who didn't know who Banksy was before this but now everyone knows him. The piece has been enhanced, it's performance art now as well, and it's the result of a huge amount of planning and work by the artist.

We'll find out soon enough. They'll certainly have it x rayed and examined now to determine whether the "jam" was accidental or intentional.

Love me some Banksy. My favorite move of his ever was when he had an exhibit of some sort in NYC and some old guy was selling 'knock off' banksys for $60 each that were real banksys. I think he is a radical genius.

that idiots pay 1.4 million for his art is even more impressive

there's not much art being made these days, and what is there tbh kind of sucks. There's never been anyone else like him and probably won't be for a long time, if ever.

Fanakapan:
http://www.isupportstreetart.com/interview/fanakapan/

Shok-1:
https://londoncallingblog.net/2016/0...in-brick-lane/

Dan Kitchener:
https://www.graffitiwalls.london/dan-kitchener

Kind of like comparing apples and oranges tbh