A media entrepreneur turned contemporary art mogul, Rick Friedman has caused quite the stir among collectors in recent years with his company Hamptons Expo Group. After launching annual art fairs in the Hamptons, San Francisco and Aspen, he's now setting his eyes on the lucrative Houston art market — the third largest in the nation.

“Houston collectors always have a big presence at art fairs in the U.S.,” Friedman told me from his Hamptons home. “It’s time to bring top-notch artists and galleries to them."

With over 80 dealers from the United States, Latin America and Europe, the resulting Houston Fine Art Fair will focus on postwar and contemporary art, presenting thousands of works from nearly 500 internationally-recognized artists. Event organizers expect 10,000 attendees during the fair — which runs Sept. 16-18 at the George R. Brown Convention Center, with a VIP preview on Sept. 15 — and between $10 and $15 million in sales.

Plans for the Houston Fine Art Fair began in spring 2010 at the inaugural AspenArt show, when the late Museum of Fine Arts, Houston director Peter Marzio approached Friedman about staging a fine arts event in Houston. The two forged an early working relationship to support the Glassell School of Art’s prestigious Core Artists and Critics Residency Program, which will host a booth on the show floor to display work from 12 of the program’s former, current, and forthcoming fellows.

Proceeds from the preview gala also will be donated to the Core Program.

“To gallery owners, Houston’s known for its active collector base, committed patrons, and renowned art institutions,” Friedman told CultureMap. “They’ve been eager to explore the city’s art market, but there was never a major international event to attend.”

To direct the Houston show, notable curator and gallerist Fran Kaufman — who co-founded and operated the SoHo gallery Rosenberg + Kaufman for 17 years — was hired. After directing three highly-successful seasons of the art fair palmbeach3 (now Art Palm Beach), Kaufman has earned a reputation for creating shows that reflect the host city’s unique buying tastes.

For Houston’s varied art market, the fair will emphasize a broad spectrum of works from a number of time periods.

“We want attendees to have an incredible experience at this pioneering event in the great city of Houston,” Friedman said. “We hope people will never want it to leave town.”

While he owns more than 130 museum-quality pieces, Friedman said he only seriously assembled his collection in the past decade . . . at an almost feverish rate.

“I bought a late Willem de Kooning painting and then a Milton Avery drawing. Pretty soon I was hooked — doing research for hours on end. I’m very drawn to the New York School, but I’ve moved into Pop and Color Field as well.”

In spite of his relatively new collection, Friedman’s tie to the art world dates back the New York scene of the late '70s. As the twentysomething host and creator of Dance Fever — the iconic dance competition later purchased and televised by the venerable Merv Griffin — he was immersed in a nightclub scene that included a judge for his own show, Andy Warhol.

“We’d go to places like Studio 54 and Xenon,” he recalled. “Andy would look over at me and tell me he wanted to meet everyone I knew at the place. Then he’d take a picture of each person with his Polaroid.”

Friedman sighed jokingly and laughed. “Andy was famous then, but not like he is now in the art world. To me he was just this shy, interesting guy. If I only knew those Polaroids would be worth millions someday!”

The Houston Fine Art Fair runs Sept. 16-18 at the George R. Brown Convention Center, with an opening preview Sept. 15 benefiting the the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Glassell School of Art Core Artists and Critics Residency Program. Click here for a schedule of daily events. A one-day pass is $17, three-day pass is $26, three-day pass plus opening preview party $100.