Bemis Center for Contemporary Art (in Omaha, Nebraska) is auctioning two pieces to benefit the Alliance: "Mestastize," a drawing by Michael Sarich (below, left); and "Missle," a print by Ed Pascke (below, right).

The Bemis Center's auction will be held 5:30-10 pm on November 22. Absentee silent bids will be accepted online until 5 pm on auction day. (To bid online, click here.) 

Michael Sarich works in a variety of media including printmaking, painting, ceramics and sculpture. A natural-born storyteller, every image Sarich chooses has meaning. Much of the imagery in his work involves religious iconography, double meanings and metaphor, as well as issues of passage and chance. Says Sarich: "I'm communicating on cultural issues and the identity of culture. I use iconography that is taken from symbols that have in a way taken too much importance. They're not bad symbols, just saturation. It's about the romantic and innocence that has taken on a strange twist." View more info on Sarich's work here.

Ed Paschke has been described as "The best artist Chicago ever produced," as intoned by the Chicago Sun Times upon Paschke's death in 2004. The artist, a long-time illustrator for Playboy Magazine, used neon colors, an acid-toned Kool-Aid formalism, and a love of urban subcultures to bring a distinctively dark vision to the world of Pop Art. "His paintings are like drugs, but in a good way," said Jeff Koons, who studied with Paschke at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. "They affect you neurologically." Paschke's works are in the collections of major museums around the world and a retrospective of his career was presented by the Pompidou Center in 1989. View more info on Paschke's work here.

Both works were donated by the artists to the Alliance in 2004, and Bemis Center will share the proceeds of the auction items with the Alliance, as part of the Alliance's "Auction Partners" program. To find out more, or to become an Auction Partner, contact Russ Smith at rsmith@artistcommunities.org.