A lot of money for a bunch of paper. “Love is in the Bin”, a work by Bansky, one of the most famous writers in the world, was sold at a Sotheby’s auction for 18.6 million pounds, about 22 million euros: it is the record for this artist.
The curious thing is that creation is partly self-destructing. The work, in 2018, when it was called “Girl with Balloon” had been semi-destroyed, with yet another stroke of genius wanted by Banksy, through a mechanism hidden in the frame immediately after being sold for almost 1.1 million pounds ( 1.3 million euros) in the British branch of the auction house in Bond Street.
The auction, tonight, started with an opening price of 2.5 million pounds, immediately shot up with a series of raises, until the historic figure was reached and the auctioneer pronounced, satisfied: “It is the world record ».
The previous record was held by the work “Game Changer”, which sold for 16.7 million pounds (19.5 million euros). So Banksy once again left everyone stunned, as he had done in 2018. The public was very surprised by that more than unexpected show, when a sort of paper shredder had shredded the expensive work called, at the time, «Girl with Balloon “. An act that demonstrated the artist’s profound impatience with art diffusion systems, which prompted the senior director of Sotheby’s – Alex Branczik – to exclaim: «We have just been Banksyzzati».