Banksy: Half-shredded artwork to go back on sale - for even more money!

A Banksy painting that shredded itself after being bought at an auction is back on sale.

Two years ago, after being sold for £1.1m, the artwork began to pass through a shredder hidden in its picture frame - leaving the bottom half in tatters.

The painting, featured a famous Banksy stencil of a girl reaching up toward a heart-shaped red balloon. After the shredding only the heart shaped balloon was left intact inside the frame, with the shredded strips from the painting hanging below it.

Girl With Balloon was originally stencilled on a wall in east London and has been endlessly reproduced, becoming one of Banksy's best-known images.

The shredding was a deliberate stunt by the street artist, with the artwork re-titled 'Love Is In The Bin'.

The painting, including the shredded bits, is now going back on sale at auction in October.

It's value has increased too, with an expected selling price of between £4-6 million.

Banksy hacked!

Recently the secretive graffiti artist was the victim of computer hackers.

A piece of art was advertised on Banksy's official website and sold as a NFT (non-fungible token) for $336,000 (£242,000).

An NFT is a unique digital certificate that shows who owns a photo, video or other form of online media. But the artwork was a fake.

The buyer said they felt "burned" when they realised they had bought a fake Banksy that was so expensive, but revealed that the hacker had returned almost all of the money.

Banksy expert Prof Paul Gough, says the fake art is likely to have been a genuine hack, rather than another Banksy stunt.

"I don't see it as a Banksy prank. The timing for me doesn't work right, the context doesn't feel appropriate," he said.