A young woman, naked above the waist, sat amid 440 pounds of colorful threads at the Volta art fair in New York last week.

She was the head-turning feature of a US$30,000 installation (model not included) by Thai artist Surasi Kusolwong at the booth of the Hoet Bekaert gallery from Ghent, Belgium.

The gallery, which took out a US$30,000 bank loan to cover the costs of exhibiting during the Armory Show week, came prepared to promote its artist, meet new clients — and lose money.

“We had no expectations in terms of sales,” said co-owner Jan Hoet Jr., sipping white wine from a plastic cup. “We are a young gallery and it's important for us to show in New York.”

Many of the 77 dealers presenting solo artist shows in Volta's aptly titled “Age of Anxiety” echoed that sentiment. While sales were meager, the young and trendy came in droves — to ogle art with attitude.

All over Manhattan, high-value sales of contemporary art were hard to come by at last week's eight fairs, including the blue-chip Armory Show, that form New York's largest contemporary-art event of the year.

At the Armory Show, which featured 243 exhibitors from 55 countries, the number of transactions fell compared with last year, dealers said. Lower-priced pieces — those costing less than US$100,000 — moved better than pricier works.

At Mexico's OMR gallery, collectors bought eye-catching sheets of acrylic, resembling folds of gold fabric, by Peruvian artist Aldo Chaparro. They were priced at US$8,000. Two conceptual pieces by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer were a harder sell at US$100,000 and US$120,000.

'Star Wars'

“My book is full of cards from people interested in these two works,” he said Jaime Riestra, an OMR partner. “Money is not behind the interest. New York collectors are gloomy and scared.”

At New York's Lombard-Freid Projects, Michael Rakowitz's Saddam Hussein helmets, inspired by “Star Wars” and lined with recycled G.I. Joe toys, were a hit. The gallery sold five, as of Friday, at US$1,500 a pop.

“They are like candy,” said partner Lea Freid. “What boy doesn't remember 'Star Wars'?”

Many booths at the Armory Show were empty on Thursday afternoon. At London's powerhouse White Cube gallery, salespeople sipped champagne and read newspapers as a US$500,000 spot painting by Damien Hirst hung unsold. Graham Steele, a White Cube staff, said yesterday that the work has since found a buyer; Steele declined to give the price.