REDLANDS, Calif.– Dennis Hare, a former athlete turned artist, has become a powerful force in the art scene thanks to his strong and poignant pieces. Hare, a nationally acclaimed artist, will be one of six artists featured during the fifth annual “Evening with the Artists” hosted by the Redlands Community Hospital Foundation on Friday, April 19.

“Today I believe we live in a world where art has become a slick, saccharine corporate style of beauty that desensitizes society,” says Hare. “I create art that is a direct contrast to this style.”

Hare’s productive career has spanned 33 years with his early figurative work catapulting him to success in the 1980s. In 1989 he was chosen as the featured artist of the year at the legendary Charles Campbell Gallery in San Francisco and he remained with the gallery for over a decade.

Hare feels his 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 age make the expression richer,” he explains. “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 authenticity. Rust, tarnish, stain, warping, shrinking, and cracking are my pallet. I try to be fearless when creating.”

“I know a piece is complete when I feel a deep spiritual connection with it. It is not so much what a piece says, but how it feels,” says Hare. “I am satisfied when my work has strength of richness that beckons the senses and engages the viewer to relate and think of possibilities.”

Hare is active in California art galleries and his work can be viewed at Westbrook Galleries, Art Cube, and the Donna Seager Gallery. He has been featured in dozens of solo and group exhibitions across the country and in Mexico.

Hare joins regional artists Darlene Katz, Anthony Radcliffe, Penny Fedorchak, Hanna Adler, and Ray Nordwall at the annual “Evening of the Artists” event. Hare’s artwork will be available for purchase at the Stan and Ellen Weisser Education Pavilion located on the Redlands Community Hospital campus from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 19. Proceeds will benefit the Redlands Community Hospital Foundation’s Art Fund. Wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served during the evening’s elegant event. Tickets are $20.

The Redlands Community Hospital Foundation’s Art Program began in 1978, and today, exhibits a growing collection of more than 750 works of original art on the walls of the hospital promoting the idea that the visual arts and the healing arts go hand in hand.

For more information on the “Evening with the Artists” event or to RSVP, please call (909) 335-5500. To see a sample of Hare’s artwork, please visit www.dennishare.com.

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Redlands Community Hospital Foundation supports Redlands Community Hospital, which is an independent not-for-profit, stand-alone hospital.