Auction items are going, going and soon to be gone

The Laguna Art Museum is counting down the hours to Saturday night’s “Art Auction 2012: California Art Lounge,” the museum’s annual benefit auction to raise funds for its educational and exhibit programming.

For this year’s auction, the Laguna Beach museum is partnering with more than 20 art galleries, including local ones, to auction off 106 art pieces by contemporary California artists working in many different genres.

Twenty-five of the 106 artists live in Laguna Beach. Eighty-five of the pieces will be sold off via a silent auction, which is already underway and closes for bids on Saturday night.

The remaining 21 pieces will be sold at a live auction in the museum’s Steele Gallery later on. It will follow the closing of silent auctions in four of the other galleries at 7:30, 7:40, 7:50 and 8 p.m. Saturday, said Sarah Strozza, the museum’s special events director. An afterparty will follow at 9 p.m.

Between now and Saturday’s event, members of the public can visit the museum at no charge to look at art pieces that will be sold silently and live. People can place written bids on the items that will be auctioned off silently. Absentee bids can also be placed on the items that will be auctioned off live, though museum officials recommend that those planning to take part in the live auction attend it in person.

Among the artworks that will be auctioned off live are: “Summer Séance,” an acrylic on canvas by Corona del Mar artist Tony DeLap, valued at $20,000; “Double Justice,” a mixed media on museum board created by Guillermo Bert, valued at $12,000; Joe Goode’s “Study for Cause and Effect Painting 2,” a Sumi ink on Washi paper, valued at $10,000; “Double Justice”; and “Varamin,” a mixed media and acrylic by Ned Evans, valued at $2,200.

Bidding for these and other pieces start at 50% of their value, Strozza said.

The 21 pieces that will go on the live auction block “have [generated] significant interest and will lend themselves to a fast-paced auction,” she said.

imran.vittachi@latimes.com

Twitter: @ImranVittachi

If You Go

What: “Art Auction 2012: California Art Lounge”

Where: Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach

When: 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4

Tickets: $125 for members, and $150 for non-members

More information: Go to https://www.lagunaartmuseum.org.