Going, going, gone….

“It appears we just got Banksy-ed,”

In an auction room in Mayfair, at the climax of the busiest week in the London art market, Banksy put his Girl With Balloon painting through the shredder shortly after going under the hammer for a little more than £1m.

British artist Jonathan Huxley was compelled to capture Banksy’s act of rebellion – poking fun at the high minded artworld – through the now infamous image of dealers, showing shock and genuine fright.

“I saw the line-up of faces aghast as the picture went through the shredder and immediately thought of Daumier, Breugal, and medieval paintings of audiences and court rooms.”

“I used a simple method to make the image look old but fluorescent colours to cover all ages..then there are all those cell phones of course. They could be looking at anything: a home run, a road accident, Theresa May dancing…”

The irony is not lost that this now canonized act of rebellion from Banksy mocking the establishment has in fact increased the value of the “destroyed” artwork… some might say that the art market always wins.