“The seller of a banana for 35 cents learned about its resale for $6.2 million at an auction. A banana bought from a street vendor for 35 cents became part of the Comedian art installation and was sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $6.2 million. The fruit seller was shocked to learn about it a few days later.”, — write on: unn.ua
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Shah Alam, 74, works for $12 an hour at a fruit stand outside Sotheby’s auction house on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Justin Sun, a Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur won a bidding war at Sotheby’s auction where he purchased the infamous Comedian installation by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, possibly the world’s most expensive fruit.
The sensational installation consisted of a banana attached with tape to a blank wall. The fruit was pre-purchased at the Shah Alam kiosk for just 35 cents. The seller found out a few days later that he had sold a “multi-million dollar” banana.
“I’m a poor man. I’ve never had that kind of money. I’ve never seen that kind of money,” he told the New York Times.
In 2007, Shah Alam left his job as a civil servant in Bangladesh and moved to be closer to his daughter on Long Island. He now lives in an apartment he rents for $500 a month, which he shares with five other men in the Bronx. At the store, he works 12 hours a day and earns less than $150 per shift.
The merchant sincerely admits that he does not understand what is interesting about the sensational installation and in general who bought it and why.
Artist Cattelan, who created The Comedian, said he appreciated Alam’s “role” in the sale.
“I was deeply moved by the banana seller’s reaction, highlighting how art can resonate in unexpected and profound ways. However, art by its very nature does not solve problems—if it did, it would be politics.”
Justin Sun, who bought the artwork, echoed the sentiment: “His role in this artwork is not to be taken lightly” and called it “touching.”
The sale of a banana taped to a wall at an auction in New York for $6.2 million stunned many artists around the world – and not only because of the high price. It was originally expected to sell for $1 million to $1.5 million. Bidding started at $800,000 and the price quickly rose to a whopping $5.2 million, or $6.2 million to be exact, including the auction house’s commission.
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Justin Sun, outbid six other interested art connoisseurs for the Comedian.
“It’s not just a work of art,” Justin Sun told Sotheby’s after his purchase, according to Reuters. “It represents a cultural phenomenon that combines the worlds of art, memes and cryptocurrency. I believe the installation will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and become part of history.”
Three previous editions of the painting have sold for more than $120,000, but this latest sale was even more surprising.
Instead, they didn’t get the original fruit, just a “certificate of authenticity” that gives them permission to recreate the unusual installation — or, essentially, buy their own banana to tape to the wall.
Opinions of art critics about the installation differed. Someone believes that it became a brutal defeat of the art world, and someone calls it “deep and provocative”.
Chloe Cooper Jones, a professor at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, emphasized the context behind the artwork.
According to her, Cattelan is considered a “trickster artist”.
“But his works are often at the intersection of humor and deep horror. He quite often looks for ways to provoke us, not just for the sake of provocation, but to ask us to look into some of the darkest parts of history and ourselves,” says the professor.
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The expert believes that the banana is not just a joke, it is a powerful symbol of the exploitation of world trade, imperialism and corporate greed. And it is difficult to choose a simpler and better fruit than a banana for this installation.
We will remind
Art object “Comedian” by Maurizio Cattelan in the form of a banana taped to the wall, sold at Sotheby’s.
The buyer was crypto-entrepreneur Justin Sun, who plans to eat a banana.