In Honour of April Fools’ Day: The Ultimate Art Prank
Pere Borrell del Caso (1835-1910), Escaping Criticism. Wikiart.
It’s April Fools’ Day! But there are prankster who don’t need any excuses to pull practical jokes. The street artist Banksy certainly doesn’t. In October 2018, he masterminded one of the most notorious art pranks in recent history. Just watch:
Banksy’s stunt was understood as a criticism of capitalism and the vanities of the art market. But a lot of speculation followed the event. Was the auction house Sotheby’s in on the prank? Why did the painting not completely self-destruct? The irony: the prank only increased the painting’s value. In 2021, the partially shredded painting set a new sales record for Banksy, fetching a staggering £18,582,000 at another Sotheby’s auction (in 2018, it had sold for £1,042,000).
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