NEW YORK—Dealers and administrators at Art Basel Miami Beach may have reported better sales than last year, but news from other fair organizers suggests that the economy has far from recovered. Sanford L. Smith, who started the Works on Paper fair back in 1988, has announced that he has postponed its 2010 edition, which was to open at the Park Avenue Armory in February.

Smith says that he has not been able to attract the “quality or the quantity of dealers” that he had hoped and that the proliferation of fairs around the world has made competition for dealers fierce. With many dealers short on cash, they are choosing to limit how many fairs they travel for.

The cost of renting the Armory has also skyrocketed to $30,000 a day, more than three times what it was prior to 2007, which has made the economics of the fair unpalatable for most exhibitors.

The Art Dealers Association of America’s annual Art Show is still scheduled to take place at the Armory this year, though organizers have moved it from February to March, situating it to coincide with the Armory Show, which will be open March 4 to 7 on the Hudson River at Piers 92 and 94.

Read more at the New York Times.