On Tuesday I was sat inside, wishing I was outside, listening to a spot of 6 Music (oh, and working obviously). This particular situation is not unusual for me. I'd almost always rather be outside sunning my pale, pallid complexion, and having BBC 6 Music on in the background is generally the standard soundtrack to my day.

Next though, I found myself inside, and quite frankly, rather pleased to be so. Although the sun shone so strongly that the windows were awash with streaks and finger prints, Bill Drummond came on the digital radio station.

Now until Tuesday this name meant absolutely nothing to me. I have since learned that Bill Drummond is also known as 'King Boy D' and had a pop career with Big in Japan and avant-garde outfit The KLF.

He is also an artist (he set up the K Foundation that burnt £1million in 1994) but it is not his art I am concerned with - rather, the art of Richard Long. This does however also concern Drummond for reasons you will shortly discover.

But first a little introduction to this story.

'Flush with cash' in 1995, the musician decided to buy a piece of art. (Before the recession, little raggers, this is what lots of people did who had too much money). Drummond's favourite artist was the sculptor/photographer Richard Long and so it made perfect sense to buy one of his prints. This particular print, of a stone circle in Iceland, cost £20,000. Several years passed but unfortunately Drummond just didn't feel he was getting good value for money - he didn't look at it enough. Which, I suppose, is fair enough really.

Richard Long, 'A Smell of Sulphur in the Wind', 1994, (in one piece)

Now, faced with this conundrum, many people may simply auction the work or donate it to a gallery. Not Bill Drummond. What Drummond did was either ingenious, completely mad, or incredibly stupid. I prefer the first two but you’d best make up your own minds.

Taking his £20,000 print off the wall, 'King Boy D' divided it into 20,000 squares and cut it up. His plan was to sell each piece for £1 to recoup the money it had cost him. But it doesn't stop there. Clearly still not short of a few quid the £20,000 raised in this way will be buried where the stone circle was created originally for some lucky bugger to find. 

Now such destructive/creative action raises several interesting points. Some will be up in arms about the vandalism shown to one of the greatest contemporary artists of the day. Do art owners have a moral obligation to preserve the item they have acquired? Obviously there is no legal requirement to do so.

Others will simply rejoice that a piece once enjoyed (or not) by a handful individuals can now be enjoyed by 20,000 and all of their mates.

So far Bill Drummond has sold 9,500 pieces of his Richard Long. If I can get details of where to buy more I will post them here. In the mean time there is time to ponder who will find that £20,000 hidden somewhere in Iceland and, supposing it's a Richard Long fan, will they try to buy all the pieces back with it?