Dennis Hare

Portrait by: Gene Sasse 2014

Woman on Porch 2014 | 14x18 oil on canvas | 98.14.05

Today I believe we live in a society where art has become a slick, saccharine corporate style of "beauty" that is desensitizing American society.  I create pieces that are a direct contrast to this style.

I feel my work has a "soul" and beauty of things simple, imperfect, impermanent, incomplete, and unconventional.  It is the beauty of things humble and modest, where corrosion and contamination make the expression richer.  My work is made of materials that are visibly vulnerable to the effects of weathering and human treatment.  The record of the sun, wind, rain, heat, and cold create a language of discoloration.  Rust, tarnish, stain, warping, shrinking, and cracking are my pallet.  There is a poise and character to this natural aging process that brings life to my work.

Paints, tar, emulsions, and lacquers are applied to weathered junkyard materials to create a new cohesive whole.  I know a piece is complete when I feel a deep spiritual connection.  It is not so much what a piece says, but how it feels.  I am satisfied when my work has a strength of character beckoning the viewer to get close, to touch, and to relate.

© 2018 Inland Empire Museum of Art
All Art © by The Artist