£6million for a half-shredded Banksy? Has the art market lost the plot? Banksy’s ‘Love is in the Bin’, the artwork formerly known as ‘Girl With Balloon’ that self-shredded at auction in 2018, is going under the hammer for a second time tomorrow. The half-shredded work is predicted to fetch between £4-6 million but you can buy a photo of the original artwork here on photo-sharing site ClickASnap for just a fiver.
The ’Girl with the Balloon’ original photo that is featured on ClickASnap is the iconic artwork underneath Waterloo Bridge that first appeared in 2002. It was taken by ‘Real Life Amateur’ whose profile states, ‘coming across a Banksy original in real life feels like winning a treasure hunt you didn’t know you were playing. If you want a piece of Banksy art hanging in your home, you can purchase a print of my Banksy moment from my shop.’ The 6 x 4 photo of Banksy’s artwork is simple but beautiful— a little girl holding a bright red balloon in the shape of a heart, preventing it from being blown away by the wind. The message is equally simple: Hold on to your heart, don’t let your sense of compassion be swept away by the forces we face in our daily lives.
Banksy’s rise to stardom started about 2000 when he traded freehand graffiti art for stencilled works that could be precisely designed and rapidly executed. He had a talent for sharp, witty graphics that represented social and political concepts sought after by celebrities and wealthy collectors.
Tom Oswald, Founder of ClickASnap, which is the only photo-sharing site that pays its users for views said: “It is wonderful to see one of our users capture the iconic Banksy image that first appeared in 2002. I’m passionate about helping anyone who loves taking photos being able to share them with the world. The site is a great way to share brilliant photos and this is a great example of one. We expect @RealLifeAmateur to get almost a penny for every single view of their photo on the site and they will likely make hundreds of sales and new follower today.”
ClickASnap became a multimillion pound business during lockdown with people seeking out novel ways to earn money. ClickASnap uses monetisation methods from video sites like YouTube and social media management systems like Hootsuite and applied them. They also ban algorithms meaning that, unlike Facebook and Instagram, every single post is as organically visible as it can be helping users earn as much money from their pictures as possible.
ClickASnap vet photos and allow users to maintain the rights to their art and disable the print screen button to prevent lifting images from the site. It offers free cloud storage too and organic reach for people wanting to share their brand, as well as anyone who enjoys taking pictures. In 2020, 30,000 users signed up to share photos. Today, the site has more than eight million images and an average of 150,000 users a day and growing rapidly.
