Eager art fans poured into the Station Museum of Contemporary Art Saturday night for a chance to bid on works by Nicola Parente, McKay Otto, Joseph Havel and dozens of other artists who donated their talents to the Art4Life auction benefiting AIDS Foundation Houston.

Less than 15 minutes after the doors had opened on the juried show, the place was packed as would-be buyers perused the exhibition, beautifully organized by Station Museum curator Tim Gonzalez. Among the early arrivals were Dr. Roland Maldonado and Joel Bickley, regulars at this annual fundraiser and regulars in making an art purchase.

At this early hour, several of the works were already sold with purchasers going for the "buy it now" price of 110 percent of retail value. The 68 works, ranging from a powerful Geoff Winningham photo ($5,000) to a crocheted kimono necklace ($290) by Joann Williams, were offered at a starting bid of 50 percent of value. From there, the sky was the limit. At night's end, $90,000 had been raised.

Key figures on the scene included Jessica Rossman and Gordon Bethune, chairs of the Dec. 3 World AIDS Day Luncheon, and attorneys Mitchell Katine and John Nechman, representing their firm Katine & Nechman which will be honored at the luncheon. AFH executive director Kelly Young and development director Melody Patelis insured that things ran smoothly as did the evening chairs Troy Campa, Rene Ibarra, Julie Koch and Richard Humphreys.

Rounding out the guest list of more than 300 were Lucinda Cobley, Kathryn Rabinow, Daniel-Kayne, Marlys Tokerud, Rodney Honerkamp, Olivier Goldesberry, Gwen Richard, Dr. Russell Radoff, Norman Ewart, Richard Ray, Ken Newberry and Edward Lane McCartney.