“This world-famous mural depicts a girl letting go of a red heart-shaped balloon. It is a well-known image that, according to a survey carried out in 2017 in the United Kingdom, is the favorite work of art of the British.

Much of its fame is due to the event that occurred on October 5, 2018, when the auction house Sotheby’s auctioned and sold a framed copy for more than one million pounds. After the auction, and after the hammer hits the lectern to confirm the sale to a private individual, a paper shredder hidden inside the Victorian frame was activated, shredding half of the work, to the astonishment and surprise of those present. .

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The next day Banksy published a video with the text “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge” (“The urge to destroy is also a creative urge”), citing Pablo Picasso.

The self-destructing image went viral all over the world. The auction house stressed in a statement that the performance instantly became world art history, and that they were unaware of the artist’s plans. The media estimated that the value of the work on the market doubled thanks to the relevance of its destruction.

According to the author himself, the work should have been completely destroyed, but the mechanism failed and only half of it was crushed.

In September 2019, Christie’s auction house auctioned off two prints of the famous image, one with the gold globe and the other with the red globe. Both prints were part of a batch by Banksy called ‘I Can’t Believe Assholes Really Get This Shit’.

Is it a scathing critique of the art market with humor? Does it contradict itself? He has been accused of selling out to the market that he criticizes so much. Whatever it is, his work never leaves anyone indifferent.´´ (Mónica Herencias, 12-04-2020)

MARK BRADFORD