A friend writes: Art notes on fossils

From email: 

The NYTimes recently published an image of Ambroella trichopoda as the sole surviving member of the oldest extant family of flowering plants, “a small shrub found only on the island of New Caledonia in the South Pacific.”

I am reminded of our good friend Wes and his
accosting Kathryn Hepburn on the stairs of the Burke Museum, giving her
a fossil flower from Republic, and in his charming but star-struck
manner, inadvertently comparing her to same.

Ou sont les fleurs d’antan?

I responded:

Wes was so star-struck. Reminds me of the Leigh Bowery-Mick Jagger exchange. Late one night in
a bar in London, Bowery turned around and bumped into
Jagger. Jagger said, “Out of my way, freak.” Bowery responded, “Out of my way, fossil.” (Image via)