On the evening of October 14, 2021, in the auction room of Sotheby’s in London, representatives of some of the world’s wealthiest people gathered to enhance their collective reputation as supporters of the fine arts. The well heeled were in for a surprised: the artist known as Banksy was going to use the sale to savagely bare a light on art market greed.
This sale was not large by estate standards. There were only 44 works that were available. But what works they were, by virtually a who’s who of modern art, including Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombly, and Lucian Freud. But everyone was waiting above all for the opportunity to bid on a notorious work by one of the art world’s bad boys, Banksy.
The work in question, popularly known as "Girl
with Balloon,” but bearing the more poetic official title “Love is in the Bin”, was being sold less than four years after it was originally auctioned off. In that original sale, also held at Sotheby’s, the work went under the hammer at $1.4 million. But no sooner had bidding ended than a remote controlled device in the frame of the artwork began shredding Banksy’s work.
The audible gasps of the auction audience masked the truth about this manufactured event.
Banksy himself is no stranger to self promotion, and is well known for his impish disrespect for conventions. He is an equal opportunity art jester. After all, he has long been fond of portraying the British monarch as an ape (viz, Monkey Queen, 2003), and ridiculing the heavy-handed behavior of police, often opposed by another ape who is clearly both cynical and worldly wise. In one outstandingly savage political comment, Napalm (see at above left), created in 2004, Banksy reproduced a famous 1972 AP photo of a girl fleeing a Napalm attack by American troops during the Vietnam War, flanked by a smiling Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald.
The semi-destruction of Love is in the Bin was not so political, but it was clever theater, and the new owner was pleased to hold the artwork, knowing that the notoriety of the sale had virtually trebled the value of the piece.
But ownership can be a fickle thing, and the opportunity to turn a significant profit proved irresistible.
In the auction announcement posted by Sotheby’s, it was estimated the piece would fetch between $5 and $7 million. But thanks to the hype generated by the semi-shredding, the bidders came prepared to go higher. And go they did. The auctioneer’s hammer went down at $25 million.
But was it worth it? Prices paid for art often bear no relationship to the underlying value of the work. The value of a work of art is based not on intrinsic value but on perceived worth.
To put it another way, consider the value of the 28 tassels created by the theatric ‘shredding’ of this work back in 2018. It is easy to calculate. Subtracting the original 2018 price from the 2021 auction price, means the tassels have directly enhanced the value of the piece to the tune of $23,600,000. Or, put another way, each of the 28 tassels has a value of $842,857.
Banksy himself should be congratulated. This prank has at once revealed the aesthetic ignorance of the billionaires who shamelessly bid so much for so little.
Josh Martin
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