BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Banksy artwork sets new benchmark (original) (raw)

Banksy's record-breaking work

The piece was the subject of intense bidding in the auction room

A work by controversial artist Banksy has been sold in London for �62,400, setting a new auction record.

A spray painting of a couple embracing clad in deep sea diving gear - which was used for the cover of Blur's Think Tank album - went for 10 times its estimated value at Bonhams.

The sale comes less than a week after Banksy's stencil of the Mona Lisa went under the hammer for a record �57,600.

The anonymous buyer said it would remain in a UK collection of Pop Art.

Dog's head

The private collector expressed "delight" at having secured the work.

Another piece of his art produced for the same album, called Young Child With Bird, was sold for �31,200 - more than four times its estimate.

At a Sotheby's sale last week, Banksy's six silk-screen prints of model Kate Moss in the style of Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe pictures were auctioned for more than �50,000.

The artist has become notorious for his public stunts, including tampering with copies of Paris Hilton's album, showing the singer topless and with a dog's head.

Last month the artist placed a life-sized replica of a Guantanamo Bay detainee inside the Disneyland theme park in California.

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie reportedly spent more than �200,000 on work by Banksy at a recent Los Angeles sale.