That doesn’t make sense. Buyers don’t get driven out of the market.

They do if they lose their jobs. Art isn't something you must buy. I like to buy art, but if I lost my job, it's one of the first things I'll be cutting back on. And the less people are buying, the more the remaining artists have to charge to keep being able to afford to do art, which just spirals more people out of the buyers market.

What is a recession or a depression?

Economic collapses are a thing.

Sorry, when I said "no one to pay for it" I meant "no one who could be paid to do it". In retrospect, my wording was ambiguous.