The High-End Art Fair Where Collectors Acquire Everything for $0

There’s something the matter with the worlds of art production and consumption — which is that the two are badly matched. Beyond the ultra-rarefied realm of blue-chip galleries and international art fairs, there’s an enormous surplus of artwork created by people with fine-art degrees who are rarely able to make a living from selling it.

The number of such works sold each year is a tiny fraction of the total produced. The problem isn’t that potential buyers don’t want original art: A huge number of people would love to live with the high-quality pieces these artists produce. It’s just that ...