Artnauts : Art Not as Usual

The Artnauts, under the direction of Dr. George Rivera, Professor of Art in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Colorado-Boulder,  are a changing group of artists who create exhibitions in various countries including Palestine, Bosnia-Herzogovenia, and the Amazon (Columbia, Peru, Brazil). They usually have a theme that focuses their work and enables them to address social and political issues in a broad range of materials and aesthetic perspectives.  Over its years of existence ( 30!) hundreds of artists have  participated.

Here are some current statistics

2026

74 members

-60 USA from 10 States

-14 from 7 countries

220 over the 30 year history

256 exhibitions

27 countries

5 continents

Above  is the cover of one of their early exhibitions featuring the work of the well-known Nahan B. Zenil on the cover. If you look closely you see two lizard-headed men arm in arm. The exhibition featured gay and lesbian atrists from Mexico showing in Colorado in 2001 and 2002. It was a radical idea then and now

Exhibitions in Bethlehem in the West Bank near Jerusalem are full of poignancy.

Home/Land (2013) includes work that gives us a close up view of the anguish of Palestinians as well as the artists feelings  about it

in collage, digital prints and drawings.

Another exhibition  in Palestine was  Mahmoud Darwish An Art Homage to a Poet of Resistance (2014). In most cases the artists chose a line from  the famous poet to inspire a painting.

In  2018 Artnauts created an exhibition with the theme Wounds

The catalog includes personal staements by the artists that describe their own feelings as well as a larger grief.

Also   in 2018 Hegira and Other Passages, seen in Bosnia,  included statements by each atist that specifically state the connection of their work to the idea of passage, flight or journey. But this exhibition was held as Trump was coming into power, so one of the passages is of course the passage from light to darkness.

Post Tractatus Art In Amazonia in 2008

A confusing title!  according to Dr. George Rivera “Wittengenstein propositions were ‘pictures of reality. It is a visual journey into the Amazon… This is where science meets tradition. The universities in the Amazon seek to bridge this chasm by educating the local population and others from around the world who come to study the ecology of the rain forest”

In addition to this clear statement there are two pages of Wittensteinian quotes  and another summary of his thinking.

This exhibition from 2008 “Insurgence” in Colorado is subtitled “A Discourse on Social Change”sponsored by a different collective Art Praxis, “a group of Colorado artists who believe immediate attention is vital in order to bring awareness to the injstices taking place in our nation and around the world”

2019 Croatia The second amendment appears on the cover in a painting by Barbara Arnold

“When the second ammendment was written there were no AR15 weapons in existence, like the ones that massacred students,techers, coaches and police guards who tried to protect them.

But

“the theme addressed personal psychological, community, cultural social, national and international. The idea was to connect links between individuals and countries, Though this exhibition  emphasized the positive aspects of connections, some artists wished to focus on the consequences when connectioins are broken.”

In 2025 the collective created Shelter: Ark DO Tito’s Bunker”

in an incredible underground space.

Today Dr. George Rivera is hoping for another exhibition in Palestine

H wrote to me as follows

“Regarding your inquiry if we have any plans to return to Palestine, I have just submitted an exhibition proposal for an exhibition at the Walled Off Gallery at Bansky’s The Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, Palestine. The exhibition will have artists address the theme of ENDURANCE. You might not know that Bansky, the famous street artist, purchased a hotel in Bethlehem in the West Bank that he donated to Palestinians to help bolster their economy. You should know that Bansky donated $100,000 to Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture which hosted all of our ARTNAUTS in Palestine.

“Here is an excerpt of what I wrote in my proposal:
I am herein submitting a proposal for an exhibition date of sometime in 2027 (date to be mutually determined if you host our exhibition). We have 65 artists in the collective. Each artist would create one work, and each work would be limited to 8.5 inches by 10 inches. We would all address a common
theme that I propose to be ENDURANCE. This theme is derived from William Faulkner’s Pulitzer Prize Address wherein Faulkner said:
“I decline to accept the end of man… I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.”

Hopefully, this exhibition can be scheduled in Palestine as soon as the IDF Israeli Army pulls its troops out of Bethlehem, which is located in the West Bank where at least 85 Palestinians have been killed.”

Dr George Rivera and the Artnauts are s shinng example of artists who engage with the problems of our contemporary world. What they have done over the course of thirty year is truly phenomenal. The art that they create for these exhibitions varies widely but all of it is provocative.

I gave a talk at one of their exhibitions in 2016

Rally round the Flag of Justice, 20th anniversary Here are a few examples

Andrew Connolly Palestine A way to Perpetrual Conflict

Sandie Ceas Palestine

Trine Bumiller Flags

I have twenty more images, but I will end there giving you a brief look at the enormous creativitey of the Artnauts. They have pullled  off something amazing. Here’s to another ten years.

Dr. George Rivera told me he in an email he is

proposing another exhibition in Palestine