20 times after shredding! The price manipulation is also genius… Tracking the “price” of the works of Banksy, a masked artist who appears and disappears from the world.

128 million yen work, “The Balloon and the Girl,” 20 times more than 2.7 billion yen after shredding

Banksy is an unidentified artist who appears in various parts of the world and paints graffiti with social satire and political messages on street corners and building walls in a guerrilla-like fashion. Every time he releases a new work, it becomes a topic of conversation, but what exactly are his works? We asked Yoshiro Takahashi, representative of Suiba Gallery (Kyobashi, Tokyo), which mainly deals in modern French paintings and contemporary art.

The shredding incident that occurred at the Sotheby’s London auction in October 2006. This unprecedented event in the history of art made Banksy’s name widely known in Japan.

As soon as Banksy’s “The Balloon and the Girl,” depicting a girl reaching for a heart-shaped red balloon blown by the wind, was sold, a shredder in the frame activated and shredded the lower half of the work. The winning bid at that time was 860,000 pounds. The winning bid at the time was 860,000 pounds, or about 128 million Japanese yen.

Sotheby’s claimed that they were unaware of the trick, but it was impossible for them not to be aware of it, since the work was removed from its frame and inspected before the auction. They probably knew about it. In any case, I think this was a performance planned by Banksy to question the value of art.

The shredding incident was reported around the world and became a major story. The shredding incident was reported all over the world, and the price of Banksy’s work rose even higher in ’18 and ’19.

Balloon and Girl,” the lower half of which had been shredded, was later retitled “Love is in the Dustbin” and put up for auction again.

It was sold at Sotheby’s in October of ’21 for 16 million pounds, or about 2.7 billion Japanese yen, a jump of about 20 times from its original price of 860,000 pounds. This work is the current Banksy auction record.

Mr. Takahashi’s gallery also sells Banksy’s works. I wonder what the price is.

In Japan, before the Corona disaster, you could buy a Banksy for 5 or 6 million yen. But the COVID-19 crisis has caused the price to rise rapidly, and even small prints are now being sold for close to 10 million yen.

The price is not something that the average person can afford without hesitation, but it is not completely out of reach either. ……