A fruit stand on the Upper East Side of Manhattan has become the unlikely meeting ground between million-dollar art and street vendors.
Credit...Amir Hamja for The New York Times

Art Collector Who Bought a $6 Million Banana Offers to Buy 100,000 More

The vendor who sold the banana received only a quarter for the fruit. The buyer of the conceptual work has offered his stand a bigger payday, but logistical problems may be in the way.

by · NY Times

A week after a Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur bought an artwork composed of a fresh banana stuck to a wall with duct tape for $6.2 million at auction, the man, Justin Sun, announced a grand gesture on X. He said he planned on purchasing 100,000 bananas — or $25,000 worth of the produce — from the Manhattan stand where the original fruit was sold for 25 cents.

But at the stand at East 72nd Street and York Avenue, outside the Sotheby’s auction house where the conceptual artwork was sold, the offer landed with a thud against the realities of a New York City street vendor’s life.

It would cost thousands of dollars to procure that many bananas from a Bronx wholesale market, said Shah Alam, the 74-year-old employee from Bangladesh who sold the original banana used in “Comedian,” an absurdist commentary on the art world by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. And, it wouldn’t be easy to transport that many bananas, which come in boxes of about 100.

And then there is the math: The net profit from the purchase of 100,000 bananas by Mr. Sun — who once bought an NFT of a pet rock for more than $600,000 — would be about $6,000.

“There’s not any profit in selling bananas,” Mr. Alam said.

As an employee who makes $12 an hour during 12-hour shifts, Mr. Alam pointed out that any money would by rights go to the fruit stand’s owner, not him.

“I am not personally familiar with the exact cost of the bananas,” Mr. Sun wrote in a text message sent shortly after a stunt on Friday where he ate the original banana during a news conference at a Hong Kong luxury hotel. “Through this event, we aim not only to support the fruit stand and Mr. Shah Alam but also to connect the artistic significance of the banana to everyone.”

Reached by phone, the stand’s owner, Mohammad R. Islam, 53, who goes by Rana, said he would split any profit between himself, Mr. Alam and the six other people he employs at his two fruit stands. No one had contacted him about any such purchase, though, he said.

Mr. Islam had learned from a reporter of Mr. Sun’s plans, which included offering the bananas from Mr. Islam’s stand worldwide, free to anyone who showed identification, according to his post on X.

There are also other, quieter efforts to support the vendor. At least two online fund-raisers have collected more than $20,000 for Mr. Alam.

Working in the rain on Thanksgiving Day, Mr. Islam’s brother, Mohammad Alam Badsha (who is not related to Mr. Alam) said he would welcome the bulk purchase. But it would have little tangible impact, Mr. Badsha said, either on the daily life of the fruit vendors, or on the gulf laid bare by the $6.2 million banana and the stand that sold it for a quarter.

“It’s definitely an inequality,” Mr. Badsha said in Bengali.

He added a Bangladeshi idiom: It was, he said, the difference between heaven and hell.

Zachary Small and Debadrita Sur contributed reporting. Tiffany May contributed reporting from Hong Kong.

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