Half-Shredded Banksy Painting May Fetch over $5 Mln at Auction

A partially shredded Banksy painting is going back on sale next month, Sotheby's said on Friday.

The artwork, now called "Love is in the Bin", was partially shredded moments after it was sold for $1.4 million at auction in 2018. Then, it was known as “Girl With Balloon”.

“Love is in the Bin” will be offered at a sale in London on Oct. 14. The piece has a pre-sale estimate of 4 million pounds to 6 million pounds ($5.5 million to $8.3 million). It consists of a half-shredded canvas bearing a spray-painted image of a girl reaching for a heart-shaped red balloon.

On his part, Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s chairman of Modern and Contemporary Art, described “Love is in the Bin” as “the ultimate Banksy artwork and a true icon of recent art history.”

“Love is in the Bin was born of the most spectacular artistic happening of the 21st century,” he said. “When ‘Girl With Balloon’ ‘self-destructed’ in our saleroom, Banksy sparked a global sensation that has since become a cultural phenomenon.”

The artwork will travel and go on public display in London, Hong Kong, Taipei and New York ahead of its sale next month.

Notably, Bansky, who has never confirmed his full identity, began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world’s best-known artists.