The man who bought an art piece consisting of a banana taped to a wall for £4,880,000 has taken a big bite out of it.
Justin Sun, a Chinese cryptocurrency businessman, bought ‘Comedian’, a piece by Maurizio Cattelan, at auction last week.
The fruit vendor behind the banana duct-taped to a wall 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 fruit seller cried.
It seems Mr Sun wants to make things right, saying he wanted to ‘thank’ the vendor who sold the fruit.
He announced he will purchase 100,000 bananas from the stand to ‘show appreciation’ of Mr Alam.
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.’
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