Sometimes artists and collectors make comments that anyone who left our space was clearly only ever here for the money, not the art. That may be true for some, but I don't think that's actually true for a lot of people. I think many simply didn't find a way to participate in a way that was sustainable for day to day life. Even if you don't need to keep selling art to survive, how many times can you share the same pieces or new pieces without a sale before the process becomes too demoralizing to show up every day? In trad art practice, how many people are artists for a time, even get gallery representation, but their career doesn't grow enough and they have to pivot and spend most of their time on something other than making art? Collectors.. I think many of them didn't think through what collecting over a long period of time looks like. There's a case to be made for buying stuff early and just hodling what you have and waiting. That can work for a certain type of art. It works better for a collectible. But it's a poor way to nurture an ecosystem.