Denver’s Art Scene Soars - in USA Today

Friday, October 26th, 2007

There is a great write up in today’s USA Today that profiles the thriving art scene in Denver…

DENVER — Clark Richert recalls the cultural wasteland that was Denver in the 1960s when he arrived from Kansas City.

“I basically went into shock when I walked into the Denver Art Museum,” says the 66-year-old artist, sometimes called the godfather of Colorado contemporary art. “It really was almost non-existent when compared to the (art museum) in Kansas City.”

PHOTOS: Denver gets artsy

Lounging at the back of Denver’s well-known Rule Gallery, which is showing his work through early November, Richert says that for a while, there was only one gallery in Denver exhibiting contemporary art — a pretty pathetic showing for one of the biggest cities between Chicago and Los Angeles.

“When we wanted to see art, we’d go to Colorado Springs,” Richert says, chuckling.

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How things have changed.

Not only is the gallery scene exploding — witness the crowd of gallery hoppers milling about Richert’s large-scale geometric paintings — but this weekend brings the opening of Denver’s much-awaited new Museum of Contemporary Art, a $15.5 million showplace for cutting-edge international works that already is drawing national attention. And it’s just the latest major cultural landmark to make its debut in the fast-growing city, which suddenly finds itself on the map for more than just its sports teams.

Watch out, Santa Fe. There’s a new art mecca taking shape in the Rockies.

Read the rest of the article here.

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