Shredded Banksy 'Love is in the Bin' Expected to Sell for Millions

A partially shredded canvas of one of British artist Banksy's most celebrated works is expected to sell for millions.

The stunt, which poked fun at the staid world of fine art, is typical of the graffiti artist's irreverent style.

One might go further and say Banksy’s entire career is a gravity-defying absurdity.

It may seem ridiculous that anyone would pay $1.95 million for Banksy’s Balloon Girl in 2018. But what about the half-shredded version, rechristened Love is in the Bin, which should be selling for $5 million to $8 million? 

Three years after Banksy’s famous image of a girl with a balloon was shredded during a live auction, the now legendary piece is set to go under the hammer.

Banksy wrote in a 2018 Instagram post at the time of the sale: “Some people think it didn’t really shred. It did. Some people think the auction house was in on it, they weren’t.”

The original work ​​’ Love is in the Bin’ will be auctioned at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction on October 14.

Back in 2018, people were left stunned as one of Banksy's most widely known pieces of art 'Girl With Balloon' auto-destructed through an in-built hidden shredder seconds after the winning bid of $1.4 million.

The artwork only passed halfway through the shredder before it jammed, leaving the frills of the semi-destroyed art piece hanging below the frame.

The only thing known about the collector selling the artwork is that they are European and a long-standing client of auction houses Sotheby's.

Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation.

What Banksy has done is expose the decadence of collectors and museums that get a special thrill spending a fortune on works that challenge the very system.