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Banksy: Half-shredded artwork to go back on sale - for even more money!

A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled "Love is in the Bin" by anonymous British street artist Banksy at Sotheby"s auction house in London, Britain 03 September 2021.Image source, EPA

A Banksy painting that shredded itself after being bought at an auction is back on sale.

Two years ago, after being sold for 拢1.1m, the artwork began to pass through a shredder hidden in its picture frame - leaving the bottom half in tatters.

The painting, featured a famous Banksy stencil of a girl reaching up toward a heart-shaped red balloon. After the shredding only the heart shaped balloon was left intact inside the frame, with the shredded strips from the painting hanging below it.

Girl With Balloon was originally stencilled on a wall in east London and has been endlessly reproduced, becoming one of Banksy's best-known images.

Media caption,

At the time, the anonymous artist uploaded a video of the destruction of his painting onto Instagram

The shredding was a deliberate stunt by the street artist, with the artwork re-titled 'Love Is In The Bin'.

The painting, including the shredded bits, is now going back on sale at auction in October.

It's value has increased too, with an expected selling price of between 拢4-6 million.

Image source, Reuters

Banksy hacked!

Recently the secretive graffiti artist was the victim of computer hackers.

A piece of art was advertised on Banksy's official website and sold as a NFT (non-fungible token) for $336,000 (拢242,000).

An NFT is a unique digital certificate that shows who owns a photo, video or other form of online media. But the artwork was a fake.

Who is Banksy?

The buyer said they felt "burned" when they realised they had bought a fake Banksy that was so expensive, but revealed that the hacker had returned almost all of the money.

Banksy expert Prof Paul Gough, says the fake art is likely to have been a genuine hack, rather than another Banksy stunt.

"I don't see it as a Banksy prank. The timing for me doesn't work right, the context doesn't feel appropriate," he said.