Gallerist Austin Thomas, center, at an opening at Flushing Avenue’s Pocket Utopia.

Flushing Avenue may well be scores of blocks away from Wall Street, but artists in North Brooklyn are experiencing the effects of the recession caused by the crash of the financial markets late last year.

With auction houses uptown shedding staff after grossly overestimating the value of works up for bid and several galleries in Chelsea struggling to sell work and closing altogether, the art world is coming to terms with how to operate in the coming months while the market may still be volatile.

“People see art as a luxury,” Marisa Sage, Director of Like The Spice, a gallery in Williamsburg, said. “People buy whenever they have money. If you don’t have money, you can’t eat and if you can’t eat, you can’t buy a painting.”

According to Sage and many of the gallery operators who participated in the Williamsburg Gallery Association’s Second Fridays last month, sales have been steady and they have been able to make rent payments. There was considerable anxiety about the market in the coming months, especially if patrons decide to cut their spending or if rents begin to increase this spring.

For galleries in Bushwick, finding the balance between selling art and paying the commercial rent is critical for survival. As the art market has slowed, some galleries are looking toward offering works at a more affordable price or expanding the use of their space for other programs.

Ad Hoc Art’s recent drawing show features works at a number of different price points and their sister organization, Peripheral Media Project, will be expanding its retail offerings of screen-printed t-shirts. Pocket Utopia has been selling prints as low as $20, in celebration of each new opening at the gallery. 3rd Ward is looking to expand their list of programs and has been renting their space for special events for several months now.

NurtureArt, one of the few spaces that reported doing well, is in the unique position of operating as a nonprofit organization. Their gallery receives its support through several grants and an annual benefit event. Though the gallery sold 180 pieces last October at the beginning of the financial crisis, which was fewer than the 300 it sold last year, its sales were beyond gallery staff’s expectations.

“I still feel people are continuing to buy art,” said Hannah Gibson, a gallery assistant at NurtureArt.

Each gallery’s situation is different, and whether the gallery director rents or owns their space is just as important a factor as what kind of art they show and how they price it. The rent in the building home to English Kills is relatively inexpensive, so director Chris Harding has been able to run a variety of experimental programs throughout the year based on the sale of a few pieces at events like Judith Supine’s solo show last April.

At Ad Hoc Art, whose owners declined to comment for this story, it is unclear whether the gallery will continue to operate in its current location because of steady increases in the value of its Bogart Street building. The gallery, fast becoming an art hub for Bushwick, could face difficult decisions this spring if the landlord demands a significant increase in the rent that cannot be met by corresponding sales. More than any other gallery in the neighborhood, Ad Hoc depends on the international art market for its business, but several curators of street art, including Alex Emmart of Mighty Tanaka, insist that interest in the genre among younger patrons remains strong and Ad Hoc will continue to have opportunities to grow.

Other galleries are feeling no pressure to adapt and may in fact go in a more experimental direction, despite the recession. Ali Ha and her husband Ad DeVille, who have been running Factory Fresh on Flushing Avenue since last June, own their building, so their worries are more about utilities and mortgage payments than rising rents. Ha still works full-time in addition to running the gallery while DeVille works on his art in the basement and assists with upcoming shows. DeVille, like Harding at English Kills, said he does not worry about whether the art in his show sells well.

“No one was really buying before and no one is really buying now, so we feel we’re doing pretty good,” DeVille said. “This is our time to go in an even wackier direction.”

For many galleries, surviving the recession may come down to the value owners and gallery directors place on art. Erring on the side of affordability may make good business sense, especially in a place like Bushwick, where operating margins can be thinner than the men’s jeans at the latest Todd P warehouse concert.

More good business sense, say Bushwick’s gallerists: buying art.