The arts are generous—artists and art-lovers, too. The Vancouver Friends for Life Society presents its Art for Life Art Auction and Gala fundraiser this Saturday (November 22), in support of complementary health services for those with serious illnesses.

This year’s 21st annual event aims to bring the works that are on the auctioneer’s block closer to the bidders. “We decided to bring back our dinner associated with it, and have the art surround the guests at the tables in a way they can engage with, as it would in their own homes,” says Lynn Ruscheinsky, head of Art for Life’s curating committee. “It offers a more intimate way of viewing art than putting it in a large space that’s basically an exhibition hall.”

Artists, galleries, and private collectors provide all the works looking for new owners and on display. “Many have been donating to Art for Life for several years—some as many as 15 years because it’s something they believe in,” she explains. “Every cent we raise from the sale goes directly to those who benefit from it, rather than administration.”

Art for Life offers both a silent auction and—for those works expected to attract the highest bidding—a live auction. “The silent auction allows many excellent artists who are not yet showing with a gallery an opportunity to come before collectors and to participate in a charity auction,” says Ruscheinsky. “We also have many gallery artists in the silent auction. A lot of people who go to Art for Life can’t afford the price of the works that will be in the live auction, so it allows them to get into collecting art at a level they’re comfortable with.”

Among the highlights of the 2014 live auction are Attila Richard Lukacs’s Portrait #11 Sons of the Desert, Cybele Ironside’s The Thicket, Elisabetta Fantone’s King of Queen, John Capitano’s Blender, and Ken Wallace’s Monte Lake. “Landscapes are always popular, and we bring them in for those who are perhaps entering into collecting, but there are some edgy works as well,” says Ruscheinsky. “We’ve got a couple of what I consider pop-art works that are really fun.”

Ruscheinsky is especially intrigued by one of these, by artist Suzi Webster. “It’s a Lady Gaga/Che,” she says. “She’s combined iconic images of Lady Gaga with the same sort of popular-culture images of Che Guevara [the Argentine revolutionary]. When I ask kids with Che T-shirts if they know who that is, they don’t—it’s just a pop icon. So she’s putting these together and using a pop-art format, in order to raise questions around ‘What is an icon? What meanings are associated with it?’ ”

Art for Life promises a feast for the senses, with the Ethos Jazz Quartet, featuring Laura Crema, performing several sets throughout the gala. “The idea this year of putting the focus on touch, taste, smell, and sound, as well as sight, is trying to think of the way that we are—experiencing the world through all of the senses, rather than through the intellect.”

The Vancouver Friends for Life Society’s annual Art for Life Art Auction and Gala takes place on Saturday (November 22) at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre.