Brion Poloncic, Alex Myers, and Christine Stormberg at the Bemis Underground

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The well attended premiere of the Bemis Underground’s 2nd Show featured seperate solo exhibitions from Alex Myers, Brion Poloncic, and Christine Stormberg. As the beer and wine flowed, and manager Brigitte McQueen mingled with patrons, the DJ raised the interior volume to a pleasant buzz, guests following the sound inside.

The first exhibit they passed was Myers’ playful Of Youth, And Dreams In The Evening of Life. The piece’s simple K’nex motors whirred in motion and the toy soldiers of youth stood glued, ready for battle, throwing shadows on the Bemis’ bare white walls: the grim cycle of war and death. To take one from youth to spectre in the span of a few seconds is a powerful thing. 

Immediately next to Myers’ work were the paintings of the reclusive Brion Poloncic. Though not present for much of the show, the crowd reacted well to the pen and ink of the shy Poloncic. Sallow Suns featured striking monochromatic works, and a touch of Basquiat’s wry humor and wordplay in the larger colored canvases. Polonic’s a talented dude: an author who claims over 150 songs in his oeuvre, as well.

Alex Myers at the Bemis UndergroundChristine Stormberg’s Ladies Choice occupied the back gallery. Stormberg’s large canvases toy with the concept of female beauty, falling somewhere between the starkly realistic and the cartoonishly grotesque, depending on your perspetive. As the model’s featured so harshly in Stormberg’s work strode through the crowd (they’re friends of the artist), the surrealism of the night, egged on by the bouyant Stormberg, was complete.

Perhaps she summed it up best when asked to introduce herself: "I’m just a dude in the show."