It was in 2022 that the art market broke records left and right at both the auction and gallery levels. In the past three years, however, it's entered a sort of prolonged cooling phase. In fact, auction sales fell 7% to $25.1 billion in 2023, followed by further declines in 2024, as rising interest rates, tighter liquidity, and a broader pullback in discretionary spending dampened the speculative fervor that had defined the early part of the decade. While recent fall auctions and art fairs have signaled a return of confidence, the effects of that three-year contraction remain tangible. Nowhere has this been felt more acutely than in the mid-tier gallery sector, where a steady cadence of closures since 2022 has unsettled the infrastructure that sustains working artists. And yet, it is often dealers, collectors, and institutions who shape the narrative of recovery. Against this backdrop, the latest Art Basel and..
