The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, at 401 Van Ness, is holding Commission 04, its third annual benefit auction and limited edition art collection release party tonight. SFist is going and thinks you should too. There'll be food and drinks and music and good art for sale and lots of local swells. What could be better on a Friday evening?

Here's part of how they describe it:

The evenings release party will also include a live auction, actively sought out by local collectors. The auction features one-of-a-kind artworks produced by artists working in collaborative teams of two or more -- as well as a new twist this year: two one-of-a-kind boxes, each put together by a notable local curator.

It starts at six, for VIPs, for $40 (How very important are you, dear reader?) and continues from seven-thirty to eleven, for regular people, for $25. It's a little spendy, but, you know, it's for the arts.

The two Commission 04 box collections for sale are comprised of a collection of limited edition multiples - contemporary work by some of the Bay Areas best and brightest visual artists (priced at $450 per box). This years event will introduce a line of mini boxes (priced at $45).