A 74-year-old fruit vendor from Bangladesh is heartbroken after learning that the ordinary banana he sold outside Sotheby’s gallery was later turned into a viral $6.2 million art piece.
Shah Alam, who has been working as a fruit seller for $12 an hour in New York City, unknowingly became part of Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s controversial artwork “Comedian.”
The banana, which Alam sold for just 35 cents, was duct-taped to a wall at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019, becoming an absurdist commentary on the high-priced world of contemporary art.
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The piece recently made headlines when it was sold by Sotheby’s at auction, fetching $5.2 million, plus $1 million in fees, to a cryptocurrency mogul from China.
Alam, who struggles with vision and speaks little English, had no idea his banana had become a global sensation until a reporter from The New York Times approached him with the news.
Upon learning that his banana had sold for millions, Alam was moved to tears.
“I am a poor man,” Alam told the Times in a choked voice. “I have never had this kind of money; I have never seen this kind of money.”
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Alam, a widower and former civil servant from Dhaka, lives in a basement apartment in the Bronx and works long hours to make ends meet.
Although the artwork’s high price is seen as a satire of the art world, Alam felt like the joke was at his expense.
“Those who bought it, what kind of people are they?” he questioned. “Do they not know what a banana is?”
Maurizio Cattelan, the artist behind the work, expressed sympathy for Alam but made it clear that art, by its nature, does not solve real-world problems.
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Meanwhile, Justin Sun, the billionaire who bought the artwork, pledged to buy 100,000 bananas from Alam’s stand as a gesture of gratitude.
In addition, an anonymous New Yorker launched a GoFundMe campaign for Alam, with donations pouring in to support the struggling fruit vendor.
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