Banksy Shreds Painting After It's Auctioned Off

[Katheryne Helendale]

To the three of you who clicked "gross", the point is, which would you rather have as a collector with too much money? A shredded painting or a piss stained bed? Me, neither, but I don't have obscene amounts of money to throw around. I think between the two I'd take the piss stained bed. Maybe make an exhibit of it with a picture of the orange one licking it or something to make a point of how deranged he is. Maybe I would require a purchase from a taco cart for viewing.

I get your point, but you're really not helping with the mental images.

 

[Beebo Brink]

To the three of you who clicked "gross", the point is, which would you rather have as a collector with too much money? A shredded painting or a piss stained bed?

Shredded painting. By a very wide margin!

 

[Essence Lumin]

Business ideas are rolling through my imagination now. This would probably require the better part of a million dollars which I don't have but as I wrote to a friend ...


Set up a tiny shop near Wall Street in Manhattan. Have a taco cart on the corner with really good tacos as the price of admission. Buy a fancy mattress with a yellow stain on it. Have a life size picture of Trump licking it. Have Putin looking in the background. This all has to do with the rumour that Trump paid a hooker to urinate on a bed in Russia that Obama slept in and his comment about Mexicans immigrating and having taco carts on every corner.

That would make some serious money but it sure would bring heat on me!

 

[Isabeau]

Wow, I don't know.

A Banksy or a bed full of Trump piss...hhhmmmm...which one....I just can't choose. Ha ha

Good lord, I'll have the painting.

 

[Essence Lumin]

Wow, I don't know.

A Banksy or a bed full of Trump piss...hhhmmmm...which one....I just can't choose. Ha ha

Good lord, I'll have the painting.

If it was in my own gracious mansion I'll take the shredded painting. There are smells to think about.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

To the three of you who clicked "gross", the point is, which would you rather have as a collector with too much money? A shredded painting or a piss stained bed? Me, neither, but I don't have obscene amounts of money to throw around. I think between the two I'd take the piss stained bed. Maybe make an exhibit of it with a picture of the orange one licking it or something to make a point of how deranged he is. Maybe I would require a purchase from a taco cart for viewing.

Actually I would collect some Artist's Shit, which is cleanly sealed in a dose and definitely not smelly.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Actually I would collect some Artist's Shit, which is cleanly sealed in a dose and definitely not smelly.

Damn, there's a market for everything, isn't there!

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Actually Banksy's half-shredded artwork is now probably even worth much more before the stunt: the artwork is still in one piece, it's unique and gained quite much popularity, so this for sure must add to its value.

I think this is the opposite of what Banksey wanted to achieve; he wanted to destroy his artwork totally, but not to increase its value.

 

[Kara Spengler]

Doctor Who might be Banksy .... pass it on.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Actually Banksy's half-shredded artwork is now probably even worth much more before the stunt: the artwork is still in one piece, it's unique and gained quite much popularity, so this for sure must add to its value.

I think this is the opposite of what Banksey wanted to achieve; he wanted to destroy his artwork totally, but not to increase its value.

Without a clear statement, it is hard to say what the intention was. But I would think this is exactly what Banksy wanted: a discussion about how a half-ruined artwork can increase in value and what that says about the state of the art market.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Banksey made it crystal clear, that his intention was to shred the picture completely; so in that regard his prank failed.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Banksey made it crystal clear, that his intention was to shred the picture completely.

Yes, but that does not say if Banksy wanted the value to increase or decrease. The shredder itself was a simple strip cutter, making a relatively easy repair if that is what the buyer wanted, or the possibility of showing it as a pile of cut strips under the shredder. There are far more effective ways to destroy an artwork that Banksy could have used if the intent was to destroy the work (imagine sandpaper on the roller instead of a shredder).

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

He wanted to destroy his picture; destroying something completely makes it completely worthless, so for me his intentions are quite clear.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Shredding is not the same thing as destroying. And given Banksy's career-spanning commentary on art collectors, it would be difficult to say that this was not the expected or even intended outcome, even with the shredder malfunctioning. The irony of paying more for a shredded work more or less reinforces what Banksy has been criticizing about art collectors for years now.

eta: If the work had lost all value, it would have undercut what Banksy has been doing for most of their career.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

To the three of you who clicked "gross", the point is, which would you rather have as a collector with too much money? A shredded painting or a piss stained bed? Me, neither, but I don't have obscene amounts of money to throw around. I think between the two I'd take the piss stained bed. Maybe make an exhibit of it with a picture of the orange one licking it or something to make a point of how deranged he is. Maybe I would require a purchase from a taco cart for viewing.

‘My Bed’, Tracey Emin, 1998 | Tate

My Bed - Wikipedia

(not piss-stained, as far as I know).