Charlie Finch Forsees the Apocalypse on Artnet.com

Our favorite art world agitator, Charlie Finch, is back today on Artnet.com with a prophecy: "We are now on the verge of a Depression."

Finch then imagines what the art market will look like after it tumbles, managing to take another shot at the hedge fund managers driving the hype, too.

Some of his most interesting predictions:

There will be "a return to the tired old verities of uniqueness and connoisseurship." Potentially, this would shift the balance of power from collectors with deep pockets back to museums who employee curators with the actual schooling to identify truly great pieces.

"Chinese contemporary is over, for awhile..." If Finch speaks the truth, Phillips better hope it doesn't happen before the auction house puts Howard and Patricia Farber's "historic collection of contemporary art" on the block in London on October 13th. We'll admit that we've jumped on to the art-world welcome wagon set out to bring contemporary Chinese artists into the fold, but we did wonder if it wasn't a little early to be calling their collection, which begins in 1986, "historic"?

"Finally, for true connoisseurs of contemporary, bargains will be everywhere for those left with cash to spend..." The November and May auctions wouldn't be nearly as exciting without an astronomically priced Rothko or Warhol, but it'd be interesting to entertain the notion of actually being able to afford something in the evening sale.