Tracey Emin

After graduating from the Royal College of Art, Emin went through a period she describes as 'emotional suicide', destroyed her Expressionist-inspired paintings and stopped making art. She returned in 1994 with a candid exhibition called My Major Retrospective, which included photographs of her destroyed paintings. In 1999 she created one of the most talked about pieces in the last five years, 'My Bed', which was littered with Emin's personal items including condoms and soiled knickers.

One of the quintessential Brit Art figures, her work fetches between £3,000 and £200,000.

Sketch, 2004 Ink on napkin 16.5 x 16.5

Chosen charity Terrence Higgins Trust

Peter Blake

Blake's most famous work is his cover of the Beatles' 1967 album Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band for which he was paid £200. It's not a collage as popularly supposed, but a studio-built set of life-sized figures with the Beatles on a platform in the middle.

Blake studied at the Gravesend School of Art and the Royal College of Art, where his contemporaries included Frank Auerbach and Bridget Riley. He had a retrospective at the Tate in 1983 and a major exhibition at the National Gallery in the 1990s entitled When I'm 64. In 2002 he received a Knighthood.

Fish 'n' Chips, 2004 Ink on paper 26cm x 18

Chosen charity Ralph Bates Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund

Marc Quinn

It was Marc Quinn's 'Self' that caught the public's attention in 1991: a sculpture of his head, filled with nine pints of his own frozen blood, bought by Charles Saatchi and almost destroyed when a builder inadvertently unplugged the refrigeration unit.

Quinn is fascinated by the body. The materials he uses for his sculptures are typically unusual and vary from his child's placenta to ice. He has exhibited all over the world from the Tate Gallery to the Prada in Milan and was at the heart of the Brit Art scene. His works are sold for up to £200,000.

River Café, 2004 Pigment print (unique) 30 x 40cm

Chosen charity Adopt a Minefield

Fiona Rae

Rae's contemporaries at Goldsmiths College of Art included Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and Sam Taylor-Wood. With them she was a fixture in the infamous group of YBAs (Young British Artists). In 1991 Rae shot to fame when she was nominated for the Turner Prize.

Her paintings have been exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery and Sensation! in 1997 and her work appeared in Hirst's legendary 1998 Freeze show.

Fiona Rae's paintings have a broad range of influences from old masters to computer graphics. They are sold for a minimum of £1,800 ranging up to £45,000 for a large triptych painting.

Untitled (menu), 2004 Inkjet print with mixed media 21cm x 29.7com

Chosen charity Amnesty International

Maggi Hambling

Maggi Hambling has been critically acclaimed for her figurative painting and sculpture since her first exhibition. However, she sprang to the public's attention during her eccentric regular appearances on a TV game show called Gallery in the Eighties. In 1980 she became the National Gallery's first artist in residence and her statue of Oscar Wilde stands near Trafalgar Square.

Hambling's works have been bought by the National Gallery, the Tate, and the British Museum and her portrait of Stephen Fry is in the National Portrait Gallery. Her paintings are sold for between £2,000 and £100,000.

Amanda, Back View Smoking Charcoal on paper 61cm x 48cm

Chosen charity Battersea Dogs Home

Gavin Turk

Turk is the UK art world's master of disguise. His most famous work 'Pop' - a waxwork of Turk as Sid Vicious in the stance of Warhol's Elvis Presley - appeared at the controversial 1997 Sensation! exhibition at the Royal Academy.

He was famously denied an MA from the Royal College of Art in 1991 after exhibiting at his degree show an empty studio with a single English Heritage plaque inscribed: 'Borough of Kensington Gavin Turk Sculptor worked here 1989 - 1991'. Turk is exhibited internationally. His works sell for up to £150,000.

Tea Chain, 2004 Tea on paper 51 x 41 cm (signed and dated)

Chosen charity Supernova children's charity

How you could own an original artwork from a famous British artist

To make a silent bid for an artwork go to www.observerfoodmonthly.co.uk or send a postcard with your name, address, telephone number and the details of your bid to OFM Art Auction, A. Farragher, The Observer, 119 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3ER. All the money made from the auction will be split between the artists' chosen charities.