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Which of the above images is A) from the awesome and provocative exhibit “Black Acid Co-op,” a massive installation shown last summer at Deitch Projects, in the rarified NYC gallery world, and which B) depicts the house fire that plagued the Pilsen residence known as the Whale (home to creative collective Order of the Lamprey)? Take your pick, link on your image of choice to learn the answer, then join the Facebook group to keep up to date and Save The Whale.

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[AMSTELVEEN, Holland] Was lucky enough on a summer art sabbatical to Europe and the Middle East to visit the Cobra Museum, home of contemporary work by artists of the COBRA movement (from Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam). Karel Appel is a favorite, so I was excited to be able to visit and learn more about this movement. A few highlights of the exhibits, and the facilities, can be found at my Flickr photo album.

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From the exhibit signage:

“The biggest source of inspiration for the Cobra artists were children’s drawings and the art of early cultures, in which the doing of something, or process, was more important than the final result. In this way, the artists established themselves in direct opposition to art theory.

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“The group grew quickly. Adherents of Cobra thought included not only painters, but sculptors and word-artists. And people worked together on projects; Read more

[Photo by Ron Reason]

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A surprise finale to a 4-week tour of Africa was being routed home on Air France, which allowed me to extend my layover in Paris. I only had a day, due to commitments back here in Chicago, but what a day it was. Finally got to visit the wonderful Centre Pompidou, and you can see highlights of what I liked here. Link here to another photo set, 24 Hours in Paris. Weather was fantastic – the first nice day in ages, I was told – and I look forward to returning this summer, for a longer stay!

Always love catching up with my pals at the M2 Studio in the Kibera slum while traveling through Nairobi, Kenya, and today was another great visit. (Such encounters are one of the upsides of having to put the Chicago gallery to sleep over the winter, as I focus on travels and photography pursuits.)

The M2 guys were excited about the prospect of procuring the deed to their studio. It’s a ramshackle, 2-story shack, basically, but it’s a wild explosion of colors and materials and spirit, and in my eyes, an amazing  anchor of life and hope in this little corner of the 1-million population Kibera.

They also showed more of their political portraits, including some fun new Obama stuff; talked about bursting at the seams with participating artists; and shared their excitement over an upcoming show in Nairobi. You can view a photo set of the artists and their current art here. You can see a previous set of photos here, from spring 2008.

within(Reason) is proud to have supported the M2 guys via donation to help them purchase the deed and make the home a permanent one. For information about seeing more of their art, procuring anything you might see here or in my albums, or sponsoring the studio, email me at any time, at ron@artwithinreason.com

Good news – starting Oct. 1, 2008, you can help build a church library in Kenya! Even better – no expensive airfare required. No getting dirt under your fingernails. No sweat under the Africa sun. No huge outlay for your strapped holiday budget (unless you want).

Nope! Just contribute even a small amount toward the shipping of a heaping pile of books. BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! Struggling to think of a holiday gift for that person-with-everything? You can contribute in honor of a friend, loved one or co-worker and we’ll send them a handmade gift card announcing your thoughtfulness, shipping Dec. 1 (or really, anytime in the holiday season or beyond that you designate).

For more information and links about how to get started after Oct. 1, and the motivation behind our mission, visit this web page on our gallery site. Happy holidays!

One of the motivating factors behind the creation of my experimental art gallery has been the desire to help out some folks I met this spring, in the vast Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. In addition to meeting a cool collective of artists known as M2, I also made a connection with Kibera resident Osir Caleb, father of 3 children and caretaker to his deceased sister’s 3 tots as well. He and his lovely wife Rosemary are trying to do a lot with very little. [You can say hello to their family via this photo album on Flickr.]

Osir was seeking to create an after-school program for his kids and others in Kibera, where currently there is none. In talking with the M2 artists, I became aware that there are no arts programs for the kids, either. (In fact, the Kenyan government has actively excised arts programs from the public curriculum. Sucks, huh?) Anyone who likes to read would have been as chagrined as I to hear Osir and others say how scarce books were in Kibera. So I got the idea in my head that when I came back to the States, I would attempt to raise money to help out some of these folks.

I am happy to report that the first show in my gallery, “Hope In a Hard Place,” raised more than $1,000 to go toward these programs. The funds already have gone toward the steep registration fees for the kids club, to be called Nicofeli Kids Club, after Osir’s daughters, Nicole and Felicia. Funds will also go toward acquisition of books and shipping costs for the creation of a church library, and supplies and instructional expertise (to be provided by M2) for a kids arts program. Yeah!

If you’d like to help out, Read more

Too hot (or cold) to leave the house? Can’t afford a plane ticket to the Middle East (or Chicago)? Want to peruse a variety of cool contemporary art? Head over to my collection of photo sets at Flickr.com, where you’ll see some favorite work observed recently at museums and galleries in Cairo and Dubai, art fairs in Tampa and Chicago, and schools including Oxbow, Nettelhorst and Ringling. Enjoy, and let me know if you have similar online galleries I may wish to link to.

[Back in Chicago, finally!] So, bummer that I had to miss Art Chicago at end of April this year – was called out of town for work. Last year at the inaugural event, took in just about all I could, and absorbed a tremendous amount in such a short time. The main exhibit hall, the Intuit show, the private home tours – all excellent, just made Chicago shine. Was really looking forward to seeing how they could top it.

On the up side, however, I made the most of my time overseas, and put together my own cavalcade of contemporary art, overwhelming in its own way:

• Visited an incredible exhibit in Dubai called “Word Into Art,” sponsored by the British Museum, showcasing the beauty of Arabic lettering in every possible medium. Just stunning.
• From there made my way to Kenya for an extended stay with my day job. A life-changing series of visits to the colorful, exotic, sad and hopeful Kibera slum resulted in photography and art that will be shared at my first gallery show in Chicago in June.
• Later visited a very cool artists cooperative called the Godown, off a Nairobi side street (closeup of a work in progress is above) which also featured a stunning photo exhibit about the crisis in Kenya earlier this year.
• Next, a side trip to Egypt took me to Cairo’s Townhouse Gallery, where, despite being shuttered for most of my time on site, ended up being an artistic journey of a different sort.
• Finally, a quick visit to Lagos, Nigeria with a new client showed me artistic surprises of a different sort.

You can read about all these adventures in longer blog posts below, and/or linkable via archives at the right.Yes, would have been nice to do Art Chicago this year, but I think I had a pretty good substitute with my do-it-yourself ad hoc international tour. Along with observations from the Chicago scene (including the very cool Upset Show which just closed today at Co-Prosperity Sphere), these are the kinds of things I’ll be writing about and sharing on this blog, and showcasing as time/money/energy permits in my new within(Reason) space in Pilsen.

I hope you continue to stop by the blog (go ahead and comment!) as well as the space in Pilsen! Peace …

[Lagos, Nigeria] My final stop of the whirlwind two months in Africa. I was not at all expecting to find much art that piqued my interest, partly due to a very packed timetable with my client, but was pleasantly surprised.

One of the team of locals I was working with treated us to an interesting, shall we say, tour of the downtown area, with a final stop at the office where he publishes a literary magazine. Gorgeous prints and paintings of Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhamenor lined the walls and were stacked on the floors. You can view more of Victor’s work at sozaboy.com.

But as intriguing was a nighttime visit to a local boutique hotel, very bohemian (had a great chat over beers with a Nollywood film producer – yes, that’s their version of Hollywood and Bollywood, and it’s a HUGE industry – who knew?), but also enjoyed looking at dozens of intriguing art works on the walls (such as the cool piece at the top of this post which I call “newsprint hotpants gal”) and chatted with the curator of a gallery store on site.

Again, this was a visit to pique my interest, and I look forward to blocking some days on my next visit just to explore the art scene and meet the talent that mostly seems to be lurking in the shadows. (I don’t think I’m being unfair in saying that if you’ve ever visited Lagos, you know that any discovery of art and creativity is a welcome sight.) At a cocktail party I met a local beauty who told me her friend, an Indian woman, had recently organized the first major auction of contemporary art in Lagos – gotta meet her on the next trip.

Until I can report back on a future visit, you might want to swing over to my travel blog for this random detour and read about the night I met the Oprah of West Africa.

[Cairo] While in Africa on business with my day job, I decided I need a break, so off to Egypt I went, for some sightseeing and photography and general cultural snooping around. On the agenda: The Townhouse Gallery, a hotbed of contemporary art highly recommended by my insightful friend Alex Aubrey, aka Chicago’s very own The Polyglot.

Alas, the place was deserted when my driver eventually found the place, but the front door was open, so I poked around, only had my pocket camera but sometimes cheap works out just fine. Here you can see my Flickr album of the deserted staircase and halls of this funky, arty place – art in and of itself, albeit seen through the unforgiving light of dusk. Eventually at 6 p.m., the doors opened to one small exhibit by an Egyptian artist, which I hope to showcase here later when I have time to dig through my files and get more specific.

Meanwhile, here’s the link to the Townehouse Gallery if you want to explore – cool space that I’ll be keeping an eye on, online.