Clark Richert

Clark Richert (May 3, 1941 – December 24, 2021) was an American contemporary artist largely known for his colorful geometric paintings, but whose practice included animation, video, intervention, happenings, and publishing.

He earned a BFA at University of Kansas,[3] and shortly thereafter was awarded a commission for the "Great Ideas of Western Man" series, sponsored by the Container Corporation of America, Chicago.

[4] Here they could pursue not only their own aesthetics and artistic paths, but also Fuller's notions of synergy, geodesic dome houses, which they considered "live-in art;" and in Richert's case, his ideas about higher dimensional space.

Influenced by sources ranging from Herbert Bayer and the Bauhaus, Mark Rothko and participants in Black Mountain College, such as Kenneth Snelson and visionary architect R. Buckminster Fuller; Richert's early work tended toward Abstract Expressionism.

"[10] But as he progressed in his career, Clark became increasingly enamored with geometry and structure, addressing issues of art, science, math, and even spirituality through large, brilliant fields of intricate patterning.

His art anticipated a number of mathematical and science breakthroughs, such as non-periodic tiling and quasi-crystals;[11] and by introducing Paul Hildebrandt to Baer's Zometoy in 1973, and to Marc Pelletier in 1980, he laid the groundwork and inspired their creation of the Zometool toy used by many scientists and mathematicians, as well as other artists and young learners.

After moving to Denver in the 1980s, Richert launched a teaching career that spanned three decades, most notably at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, now in Lakewood, Colorado.

Former students include: Jason Hoelscher, Jenny Morgan, Gregory Hayes, Xi Zang, Sterling Crispin, Dmitri Obergfell, Travis Edgedy (aka Pictureplane), Joseph Coniff, and Tya Alisa Anthony.