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10+ Creative Responses to Banksy’s $1.3M Painting That Self Destructed

On Friday, October 5, the anonymous artist Banksy stunned the world by self-destructing one of his paintings immediately after it was sold for over $1.3 million at Sotheby’s auction. The stunt has shocked many, and it even inspired brands and artists to produce their own iteration of a piece that is “Going, going, gone,” according to the mysterious artist himself.

The responses started with the creative agency DDB Austria. They produced a spinoff ad for McDonald’s that was simple in style yet comical in execution. It features the fast food logo being shredded into golden French fries—a nod to the now-iconic scene of the Girl With a Balloon painting as it made its way through the frame/shredder.

DDB Austria wasn’t the only agency to be inspired by Banksy’s antics. IKEA also showed a way for you to have your own Sotheby’s moment by pairing one of their gold frames with a print and a pair of scissors. Argo Concepts took the idea back even further by imagining what it’d look like to have Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa making their way through the shredder.

For more creative takes on this art-world first, check out some of our favorites below. And if you’d like to “shred” an artwork, Lee Martin has developed a virtual way to do just that.

Banksy made art history by having his painting self destruct immediately after it sold for over $1.3 million  at auction.

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Richard Agius, a creative director at the ad agency TBWA\ANG created this alternative McDonald’s response after DDB.

This iconic act has ushered in Banksy inspired art from companies and creatives around the world.

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Someone even turned the scene of the shredding into a hilarious meme:

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Banksy’s Street Art is Recreated Using Food

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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