Truly A Work Of Art

We are living in the age of "extreme ownership". At least, this is how I call it. We want to own a lot of everything, forever, and we are addicted to "more" in this age. From youth to love, from money to power, from clothes to gadgets, we want more of everything. And this aggressive ambition destroys the environment and ruins our lives by rendering them materialistic—and materialistic only.

Anonymous artist Banksy mocked this age of extreme ownership by way of a work of art. 

The Banksy painting titled “Girl with Red Balloon” was auctioned at the Sotheby’s in London: this "was" the spray-painted and acrylic piece depicting a little girl extending her arm out for a heart-shaped balloon, floating far beyond reach.

But the painting itself was not Banksy's real art ...

The bidding for the Girl with Red Balloon reached the extraordinary figure of £953,829. As soon as the bidding was over and the painting found its "owner", it shredded itself into pieces.

It is now speculated that Banksy was at the evening sale at Sotheby’s on Friday night. Or maybe a "representative"? It is also alleged that Banksy shared an Instagram post that he deleted almost immediately afterwards, where he depicted how he inserted a paper-shredding mechanism "in case the painting was ever auctioned". Indeed, an alarm was triggered inside the work of art as onlookers turned just in time to see the canvas slip and become shredded into pieces.

The final moments of the Girl with Red Balloon turned out to be a real work of art as this episode made us reflect about the state of the world and the nature of humanity in general and this age of extreme ownership.

Well, isn't the whole point of art making us reflect, think, feel and understand?

Art, like many other truly valuable things in life, cannot be really owned but rather be enjoyed.