Christie’s, the auction power house, got together 30 of Banksy’s most sought after works and naturally, people paid top dollar for them.
Banksy, the enigmatic street artist, has a long history of playing by his own rules. From shredding a million dollar painting moments after auction, to turning up at art festivals uninvited, his latest auction is no exception t his past behavious. This time, however, he made fun of the paying customers for spending millions of dollars.
The auction was called “Banksy: I can’t believe you morons actually buy this sh*t” and sales totalled out at around US $1,371,195.
“I can’t believe you morons actually buy this sh*t” is the name of one of Banksy’s 2007 works. It depicts a full auction house, with people bidding millions of dollars for a framed image reading the same words.
Topping the recent auction was a 2004 print, Girl with Balloon, that was estimated to fetch for US $90,000. The painting eventually climbed up to US $491,000. This version has the iconic image, though the balloon is gold coloured instead of red. The red version, far more common, sold for around US $77,500.
Most recently, Banksy’s ‘Devolved Parliament’ satire painting showing the House of Commons run by chimps, and it will go up for auction just days before the Brexit deadline. It’s estimated to fetch over US $2 million.
