ONE MAN’S TRASH

Buyer of Shredded Banksy Work Will Move Forward With Purchase

“I was at first shocked, but gradually I began to realise that I would end up with my own piece of art history.”

The woman who purchased a Banksy painting only to watch it shred before her eyes will go through with the $1.4 million purchase. The elusive artist shocked the art world yet again last weekend when his painting, Girl With Balloon, appeared to self destruct immediately after it was auctioned off by Sotheby’s. Banksy later published a video of himself installing a shredder into the painting’s frame. The work—which now has a new title, Love Is In The Bin—has been certified by the artist’s authentication body, Pest Control. The buyer, a European collector, said, “When the hammer came down last week and the work was shredded, I was at first shocked, but gradually I began to realize that I would end up with my own piece of art history.”