Fruit seller who sold banana to artist fuming after it's sold at auction for £4.8m

Fruit vendor Shah Alam, 74, was left fuming after an ordinary banana purchased at his New York City stall was sold at auction for £4.8 million - as he told reporters 'I am a poor man'

A New York City fruit vendor was left fuming after an ordinary banana bought at his stall was duct-taped to a gallery wall inside Sotheby’s and sold for £4.8 million ($6.2 million).

Shah Alam, 74, tearfully told reporters: "I am a poor man. I have never had this kind of money; I have never seen this kind of money" as he discovered the 35-cent piece of fruit had become Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s absurdist work titled 'Comedian'.

Alam, who moved to New York from Dhaka, Bangladesh, to be closer to his daughter, earns just $12 an hour at the stall sat directly outside Sotheby’s on the Upper East Side. The widowed father had no idea about the sale until a Times reporter found him and broke the news this week.

The "conceptual piece" was sold to Chinese cryptocurrency billionaire, Justin Sun, whose net worth is estimated to be at least $1.4 billion.

After an opening bid of $800,000, the taped banana sold for $5.2 million, plus more than $1 million in auction-house fees.

Fellow New Yorkers, as well as the art buyer himself, are now lining up to support Alam after his tragic story gained traction.

Alam, who is almost blind and doesn't speak much English, lives in a $500-a-month basement apartment with five other men in Parkchester, the Bronx. He works 12 hours a day at the same fruit stand on York Avenue and East 72nd Street, four days a week.

Baffled by the concept behind “Comedian”, he said: “Those who bought it, what kind of people are they?” he asked the Times reporter. “Do they not know what a banana is?”

The artist, Maurizio Cattelan, who was not compensated for the Sotheby’s sale, said he felt for Alam but did not offer him any help.

He said: “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.”

Justin Sun, the new owner of “Comedian”, meanwhile offered to compensate Alam. “To thank Mr. Shah Alam, I’ve decided to buy 100,000 bananas from his stand in New York’s Upper East Side,” Sun tweeted on Thursday. “These bananas will be distributed free worldwide through his stand.”

The billionaire, who lives in China, did not specify how he would buy and distribute the fruit but said a valid ID would be needed to claim a free one. It’s also unclear if Alam’s tiny neighbourhood fruit stall has the supply for such a huge order.

Sun added: “Mr Alam’s contribution to this extraordinary artwork is indispensable, highlighting the boundless possibilities and value hidden in everyday life. I hope this initiative will bring his story to a broader audience and, one day, I look forward to visiting his fruit stand in person to express my gratitude again.”

Alam was also backed by an anonymous New Yorker, who launched a GoFundMe page and promised to match the first $5,000 raised dollar-for-dollar.

The fundraiser, who only shared their initials “JS” wrote: “Do we really want to live in a city where we can shrug off a street vendor who’s moved to tears by the fact that he’s been made the butt of a joke involving an amount of wealth obscene to him, while celebrating some smartass for figuring out how to make $6 million from that joke?

"If this utter and gross indifference isn’t what ails us, what is?” By Friday morning, the paged had already raised $9,755 USD.

“I will walk to the fruit stand myself next week (after Thanksgiving) and take a video of me handing him the money myself,” JS wrote. “If I don’t find him, GoFundMe will return your money.”