Clark Richert:

Study of Riemannian Tangencies

Clark Richert’s site-specific installation for The Lane along the outside of the museum, Riemannian Tangencies (2007), is a response to the building’s architecture and site, which is based on the Golden ratio. The Golden ratio or Golden proportion has long been employed by artists and architects as it is perceived to possess exceptional balance and aesthetic properties that are naturally pleasing. An example from Classical Greek architecture is the Parthenon in Athens, built in the 5th century BC.

Richert’s work for MCA Denver relates to the David Adjaye-designed building through a non-repeating pattern called Penrose Tiling that is interrelated by the Golden Proportion. A green line, applied in a winding curve over the two-tone concrete pattern, randomly touches upon points in the underlying pattern and provides, in Richert’s own words, "a lyrical movement reflecting the unpredictability of the creative activities for which the Museum was created."

Clark Richert was born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1941. He earned a BFA from the University of Kansas, in 1963, and an MFA from the University of Colorado, in 1972. Richert’s work has been shown at venues across the U.S., including the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California; Brooklyn Museum; Cranbrook Art Museum, Broomfield Hills, Michigan; Denver Art Museum, and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He lives and works in Denver.