people will think it's a Jeff Koons

A movie star walks into an art gallery...
(Three priests and a rabbi walk into a bar... no wait that's something else ...)

A movie star walks into the art gallery where "Charlotte York" works, in an episode of Sex and the City -- Charlotte sees him -- he's real cute, and bristling with that movie-star-celebrity-magnetism:  shaggy hair, da-da-da-da-da.  His name is Wylie Ford.  Wylie.  Lol -- those satc writers come up with 'em....

Charlotte notices him from across the room, and she fidgets and shines with the excitement of seeing one of these people, unexpectedly, in person -- she pretty-smiles over and greets him.  He puts attention on her for a moment -- seems kind of stoned -- and then curiously appraises a fire extinguisher on the wall right close, and asks Charlotte, "How much for this piece?"

First she blurts out politely, with nervous giggles, that it isn't a sculpture by any artist, it is a -- fire extinguisher.  In case of -- like -- you know -- fire.  Then she quickly back-pedals, gazing at him, not wanting to seem like she was laughing at him or correcting him, and says with enthusiasm, "No, take it!  You can have it!  Please!"  And then -- mentally "tap-dancing" for some believable logic..."People will -- think it's a Jeff Koons!"  Delighted smile, as she feels she's landed on some kind of socially safe ground.  The movie star answers with a beaming smile, admiring her beauty (and, probably, her wit)  Phew!  Everyone's safe on the ground.

I'd not heard of Jeff Koons before I saw that episode -- maybe am art-world illiterate...but when watching that, the viewer is forced to use deductive reasoning and say, OK, Jeff Koons must be one of those artists who makes "modern art" -- wherein it might be a fire extinguisher.  Or Campbell's soup cans -- Andy Warhol-style.

Years after seeing that s-a-t-c installment the first time, in the Sept. 2013 issue of Bazaar magazine, a one-page article:  "Jeff Koons on the Legacy of Magritte."  I might not have taken time to read an "art article" but thought -- Jeff Koons, the guy I've barely heard of -- Magritte another art guy floating nebulously in the periphery of awareness -- only one page, I have time to check this out....

"As told to Lindsay Talbot," the article begins:

----------- Surrealism has always been very important to me -- it was the first art movement I really responded to.  I imagine I probably first came into contact with René Magritte around age 13.  I think Surrealism helps people go inward -- to really dive into the muck and understand themselves -- and then return outward with a new sense of self-acceptance....Magritte is very much about the things that we all experience and the sensations of daily life that we all encounter.  Even though these images can come off as being mysterious or strange, they're actually archetypal....There's a reality in the seemingly unrealistic moments he creates, even though he makes these strange juxtapositions.  He predated Photoshop, when you think about it. ------------

Now people can see famous paintings and other art-works on the Internet.  (This has got to help make everyone's lives better.  Someone said the other day, "Life sucks."  No it doesn't!  Google Magritte!  Google the impressionists!  Monet!  Manet!  Renoir!...)

[Jeff Koons in Bazaar]   Art brings you in contact with feeling....One of the beautiful things about [Magritte's] work is that it's really made for the viewer to participate in.  There's a generosity there -- it's about you and your response to the work.

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