Also feeling hopeful was New York dealer Cynthia Reeves, who had on offer some of the most standout contemporary works by lesser-known artists at the fair. She was showing an installation, Time Lapse (2006), by Shuli Sadé, a series of stills derived from video that Sadé shot while riding across a bridge in New York. The sepia-toned images were placed in rows, and together they captured the feeling of the relentless pace of the city. The installation comes in an edition of 6, priced at $30,000.

Reeves mentioned that she was happy with the “focused level of attention” that the recession seems to have brought to fairs and collectors. “It engenders an opportunity for people to really engage with the artwork,” she said. Reeves had already arranged a number of commissions, including one for Sadé, with visitors to the fair.

Another dealer waxing about the potentially positive effects of the recession, Hal Katzen, told ARTINFO that “good things are always going to have a strong value.” According to him, “There’s been a clearing-out process of over-hyper, over-sold art.” The New York dealer was showing a number of mid-sized works by big-name contemporary artists: LeWitt, Frankenthaler, Robert Longo. Also in his booth were a Chuck Close self-portrait (one of two at the fair) and a seemingly Futurist-inspired James Rosenquist lithograph titled Stars and Stripes at the Speed of Light (2004) priced at $6,800. Despite the lack of red dots around these works, Katzen said that sales had been “ok” and mentioned that there had been a lot of interest and a lot of good questions. “People are weighing their options,” he said.

Peter Fetterman Gallery from Santa Monica, the only photography dealer at the fair, reported measured success. A representative said that they had sold pieces by Sebastião Salgado, gallery newcomer Jeffrey Conley, and Lillian Bassman, all in the $2,500–10,000 range. Fetterman had a whole wall devoted to Bassman, a fashion photographer who shot for Harper’s Bazaar from the 1940s through the ’60s and was a peer of Richard Avedon — she was “a woman in a man’s world,” according to the representative. Now 93, Bassman is enjoying a sort of renaissance; her striking and almost lush black-and-white shots were on offer from the gallery for between $4,000 and $8,500.

Despite slow sales, the Works on Paper fair had an air of confidence and seemed to know its standing and its purpose well enough to be on solid footing. But as with all things market-related, only time will tell. The only way to weather the storm, according to veteran dealer Katzen, who said he has been through similar downturns “a few times now,” is to return to the root of it all.

“Dealers have to go back to the basis of what they do,” he said. “The art.”