A 74-year-old fruit seller had no idea that one of his bananas, which go for 35 cents a pop, would one day be worth $6.2 million.
A reporter informed Shah Alam, who operates a fruit stand on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, that one of his pieces of produce had been duct-taped to the wall by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and then sold at a Sotheby’s auction last week for a whopping $6.2 million to cryptocurrency mogul Justin Sun.
When he discovered the banana’s trajectory, he started to cry, the New York Times reported. The piece, the vendor’s banana strapped to a wall with silver duct tape, is called Comedian but Alam didn’t find it funny at all.
“I am a poor man,” Alam said. “I have never had this kind of money; I have never seen this kind of money.”
The septuagenarian came to the US in 2007 from Dhaka, Bangladesh, where he worked as a civil servant, the outlet reported. He moved across the world to be closer to his daughter, one of his two children, who lives on Long Island with her spouse.
Alam lives with five other men in Parkchester, Bronx in a basement-level apartment, paying $500-per-month in rent. He works 12 hour shifts — all of which are on his feet — four days a week at the fruit stand for $12 per hour.
After Sun purchased the work of art, he posted news of his latest acquisition on X: “This is not just an artwork; it represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community. I believe this piece will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and will become a part of history. I am honored to be the proud owner of the banana.”
Alam was astonished by the lucrative sale of the art — which he wouldn’t have been able to see anyway, due to his poor vision, since he needs cataract surgery, he told the outlet.
“Those who bought it, what kind of people are they?” he asked. “Do they not know what a banana is?”
Cattelan, the artist, told the Times he was “moved” by Alam’s words but didn’t delve deeper into his criticism.
“The reaction of the banana vendor moves me deeply, underscoring how art can resonate in unexpected and profound ways,” he told the outlet. “However, art, by its nature, does not solve problems — if it did, it would be politics.”
Alam continues to work at the fruit stand, selling four bananas for one dollar, while Sun made plans to eat the $6.2 million duct-taped banana on November 29.
