Love is in the air: Shredded Banksy fetches record-setting $25.4m
Al Jazeera
The artwork dubbed Love is in the Bin sold at auction for more than 1,750 percent than it sold for just three years ago.
A partially-destroyed Banksy painting sold at auction on Thursday at Sotheby’s in London for more than 1,750% than it sold for just three years ago. It’s the most expensive artwork by the artist to sell at auction, ever.
The work, then called Girl with Balloon, made headlines around the world in Oct. 2018 when it self-destructed immediately after selling at Sotheby’s for about £1 million ($1.2 million at the time). The artist claimed it was a “prank,” and the auction house disclaimed any complicity in the stunt, raising many an eyebrow.
The artwork was subsequently renamed Love Is in the Bin and quickly became “a cultural phenomenon,” says Emma Baker, a contemporary art specialist at Sotheby’s in London.
