Fruit seller who sold £5,000,000 banana won’t get a penny
The fruit vendor behind the banana duct-taped to a wall – which sold for £5,000,000 at an auction in New York last week – had no idea about the fruit’s fate.
74-year-old Shah Alam runs a fruit stand outside of Sotheby’s in Manhattan, where he sold the banana which ended up in the art piece.
His bananas sell for £0.20 each, or £0.79 for a bunch.
The New York Times tracked down Mr Alam and told him about where the banana he sold ended up.
The piece of conceptual art is called ‘Comedian’ and was made by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.
The banana Mr Alam sold was part of the piece, sold by an unnamed collector, for £5,000,000.
Mr Alam is a widower from Bangladesh, and moved to the US in 2007 to live near his daughters. He works four days a week in 12 hour shifts.
When he heard what the art piece with his banana sold for, he began to cry: ‘I am a poor man. I have never had this kind of money; I have never seen this kind of money.’
A spokesperson for Sothebys confirmed the banana was sold for the artwork.
Mr Cattelan heard about Mr Alam’s ordeal and told the NYT: ‘The reaction of the banana vendor moves me deeply, underscoring how art can resonate in unexpected and profound ways.
‘However, art, by its nature, does not solve problems — if it did, it would be politics.’
The art was this week bought by Justin Sun, the founder of a cryptocurrency platform.
However, Mr Sun didn’t buy the actual Comedian, he just bought a certificate giving him the right to duct-tape a banana to the wall and call it Comedian.
The buyer said the piece ‘represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community.
Mr Sun added: ‘Additionally, in the coming days, I will personally eat the banana as part of this unique artistic experience, honouring its place in both art history and popular culture.’
Comedian first debuted in 2019 at Art Basel Miami Beach, with festivalgoers trying to work out whether it was supposed to be a joke or not.
At one point, another artist took the banana off the wall and ate it.
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