The Master, Judd Tully, finds that price is still an issue in the Contemporary art market and buyers are more interested in middle-market five-figure work than they are in making a big statement:

Philip Hoffman, head of London’s Fine Art Fund, was also taking a hard-nosed bargaining approach. “Everybody is looking for discounts, and I’m still finding the prices a bit high,” he said. “Dealers are saying, ‘Well, make me an offer.’ ” […]

“All the right people seem to be here,” said London/New York private dealer Wendy Goldsmith, but dealers, she added, “haven’t yet come to terms with the new price reality. The prices they’re asking are so extraordinary.” And buyers appear to be responding by favoring midlevel works, priced, say, under $100,000, which are making a comeback after an uncertain year, at least at first glance.[…]

New York dealer David Zwirner also noted an uptick in the middle market (which he characterized as “under $100,000”), saying it’s “not fully back but is coming back. People are buying again.” […] Zwirner’s team also sold a Mamma Andersson painting, Sink (2008), in mixed media on paper, for $40,000, and a Marcel Dzama painting for $12,000.

Less is More at this Year’s Frieze (ArtInfo)