In today's supercharged art market, being a collector no longer means simply selecting paintings and sculptures that appeal to the eye.

It takes serious scholarship and a major commitment of time and money to identify and acquire desirable works of art. With a new roster of artists emerging every year, smarts and perspective are needed to separate the wheat from the chaff. And at auctions, private collectors routinely compete with -- and often outbid -- museums.

The commitment doesn't end with a purchase, either. Once in hand, artwork must be cared for, which presents its own set of complex and costly challenges. After the acquisition comes the more mundane work of transporting, maintaining, displaying and storing a work of art that can be as large as a house and cost a small fortune.

''If you are given the privilege of purchasing the important artifacts of your time, you have the responsibility to preserve them,'' said Mark Coetzee, director of the Rubell Family Collection, a major private collection in Miami that is open to the public. ``And you have to have the staff and services to preserve them.''

Indeed, the services employed by private collectors are often the same as those used by museums. ''There are a lot of people who collect art,'' said Coetzee. ``But collectors operate on a different level. They are very professional.''

While collectors can make a splash and garner headlines by spending lavishly at auctions, they rely on a network of service providers to care for their trophies.

Taken together, the advisors, handlers, framers and warehouse operators who serve the needs of private collectors make up a satellite industry, often operating behind the scenes, but every bit as essential to the art market as the painters, sculptors and photographers churning out new work daily.

Here are the stories of a few of the businesses and individuals supporting the South Florida art industry.

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