Imagine going to an auction, bidding on and winning an item. Now imagine watching that item self-destruct...as in, before your eyes. That’s what happened when a painting by infamous British graffiti artist Banksy went up for auction at Sotheby's in London on Friday.
His famed piece, “Girl With Balloon,” (which depicts a little girl extending her arm out for a heart-shaped balloon, floating just out of reach) went up for bid - and sold for $1.4-million. But as the hammer came down, the painting's canvas began scrolling downward, through the frame and reappearing below in very neat, vertical strips. Yup – it was getting shredded!
At first I was irritated with the whole thing, but then I read that the painting is now actually worth 4 TIMES what the person paid for it since it is now a piece of art history.