The publicist said they had to open the doors to the NADA fair at the Deauville Beach Resort five minutes early because the crowd was that eager. Publicists are paid to say those kinds of things, but inside there was a veritable feeding frenzy that gave off the feeling of a Moroccan street market.
The day’s refrain was “sorry, it’s sold.” The Belgian collector Alain Servais was wandering the fair in the earlier hours, none too happy about the amount of middle-of-the-road abstract painting on view. There was a lot! Maybe about half of the booths seemed stocked with the stuff. “Half? It’s 90 percent!” Servais said. “It’s selling like hot cakes. I am happy for the dealers. I am not blaming them for bringing what people want to buy, but what kind of world do we live in?”