Still on the Banksy theme, a number of other extraordinary factors have emerged after the shredding incident at Sotheby’s. Firstly, footage of the drama unfolding released on Banksy’s own website shows that he must have had several representatives in the room as the film is taken from various positions at the same time.
Bizarrely, to my mind, some art experts argue that the ‘performance art’ episode now attached to the piece has possibly doubled its value, despite the fact that it is now largely cut into strips, which frankly doesn’t say much about why some people treasure art.
Perhaps even more bizarrely, it now turns out that at least one other owner of a Banksy work has taken a Stanley knife to it in an attempt to replicate the stunt and thereby double the value of the piece… only to discover that it is one thing for Banksy to do this, quite another for them to give it a go. In their case the five-figure work is now worthless.
As I have advised before, values are subjective and can prove unpredictable, especially under circumstances like these. In normal times, around half a dozen factors help determine prices at auction, but when the extraordinary happens all bets are off.
Meanwhile Frieze, the art fair conglomerate on show in London that normally expects to dominate the headlines at this time of year has had to play second fiddle to this affair – not something it has experienced before.
