It is, perhaps, too easy for locals to take Santa Fe's reputation as a major art destination for granted. Or worse, to believe that the designation is little more than hype, another example of "tourism white noise" to which we've become inured.

But if the opening events of SOFA West — SOFA stands for Sculptural Objects and Functional Art — at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center is any indication, our city's art credentials are solid gold among art collectors and patrons from this country and much farther afield.

More than 2,000 of them showed up for the two preview openings Wednesday night, one a benefit for the New Mexico Museum of Art and the other an invite-only reception for VIPs.

"That's a bigger crowd than has attended any opening since we opened last September," says Keith Toler, the center's executive director.

The convergence of about 33 galleries and a cadre of their artists and their collectors to SOFA's brand new venue in the City Different kicked off the summer season in Santa Fe with a bigger-than-expected bang — one that, incidentally, coincides with the debut of New Mexico Museum of Art's Design Collection of historic and contemporary New Mexico design objects dating from 1880.

SOFA West is primarily an exhibition of three-dimensional art, which entices the viewer to approach the work, to handle it, and to consider it from different perspectives. Hence the show's title, "Touch Me, Use Me, Love Me." New Mexicans are, of course, very familiar with the organic experience that this type of art provides, familiar as we are with the beauty and function of our Native pottery, bultos and heavy-threaded colcha textiles. In fact, many New Mexican artists and Santa Fe-area galleries are represented in the exhibition, assuming with ease their places in the impressive lineup.

Billed as the 'boutique' version of the well-established, and much larger, SOFA exhibition founded in Chicago in 1994 and expanded to a second site in New York City in 1998, SOFA West is at least partly a reaction to a near-disastrous loss of business in the economically hard-hit East Coast. That Santa Fe was ready to provide a foothold out West for SOFA to grow its following and its patron list is a testament to our city's art reputation and its ability to draw visitors from all over the world. And there are benefits for the greater Santa Fe community as well.

"Before the first piece of art was purchased , the economic impact on Santa Fe had to have been a couple hundred thousand," at least," Toler said. "That's without the effect on the art community itself."

Considering the list of auxiliary social events, including one at the Santa Fe Opera, taking place this week for SOFA attendees, that figure could be low.

This is a collectors' show, and many of them follow SOFA from Chicago to New York — and now to Santa Fe. Even galleries not participating in this show will feel the effect of having so many collectors in town.

The community can thank many people for bringing this outstanding show to Santa Fe, not the least of whom are the those who have fought so long and hard for a suitable site, the convention center, to host such large, potentially growing, shows.

As reporter Paul Weideman points out in his June 5 Pasatiempo article, "Touch me, use me, love me," gets the prize for the most fun name in the business. And with its cast of bright and glamorous artists and enthusiastic gallerists to engage the crowds, it's just plain fun, even for the most casual viewer. We congratulate the organizers and look forward to their return in 2010.

The four-day exposition opened yesterday to the public and ends Sunday.

For more information, visit the Web site at www. sofaexpo.com or call 800-563-7632.