Auctioneer John de Vere White - gavel at the ready - kicked off proceedings at St Michael and John's Church in Temple Bar, Dublin, on Tuesday night. Rooks in a Storm, by Elizabeth Magill, going at €4,400, was the first painting to sell at the art auction.

"Give that person a round of applause," said de Vere White after a slow start. Thirty per cent of the money raised through the sale of 84 new paintings by Irish and international artists goes to Aware, the charity that helps people with depression.

A painting by the Ireland-based Austrian artist, Gottfried Helnwein (who hosted Marilyn Manson's wedding in his Co Tipperary castle last weekend), sold for €8,000 and one by John Shinnors went for €7,200.

"Each artist was asked to do what represented themselves best currently," said co-curator Noel Kelly, of Temple Bar Gallery and Studios (TBGS), about the commissioning policy for A Moment in Time: New Paintings. Each piece measures 30cm x 40cm.

"We conceived this as a serious painting exhibition, intending to give an overview of the current directions and trends in contemporary painting," said co-curator Marian Lovett, also of TBGS.

Artist Margaret Tuffy said her painting, Blue Strike, was "about the light and the stone and the environment that I was in at that time in Inis Oirr".
Artist David Godbold, whose painting was of a skull comprised of skulls, was at the opening with fellow artist Finola Jones, who recently opened a gallery called Mother's Tankstation in Watling Street, Dublin 8.

Some artists at the auction preferred to stand "like the non-believers at the back of the church", said artist Desmond Shortt. Among those hoping to bid was Mark Mulqueen, director of the Irish Film Institute, and his wife, Breda Gleeson.

Among the crowd, batik artist Bernadette Madden, whose own Christmas Present exhibition opens today in her studio on Dublin's Haddington Road, was joined by her friends, Paul Moloney, of Axa Insurance, and his wife, Pauline Wheatley, for the bidding.

A Moment in Time: New Paintings runs at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios until Sat, Jan 7