Sharon Stone’s New Exhibition: Paintings that Reveal the Power of Confronting Vulnerability
Gallery 181 in San Francisco Presents: “My Eternal Failure”
On View April 11 through August 31 at 181 Fremont Residences
Gallery 181 at San Francisco’s 181 Fremont Residences has selected Sharon Stone for a new exhibition featuring a series of 18 paintings never before shown. On view April 11 through August 31, the gallery show is titled “My Eternal Failure.” The artist chose this title as a way to confront the valuable life-lessons she experienced during her six years living in San Francisco, some of her most vulnerable times ever. The exhibition is an ode to the place where she realized her strengths could overcome life-threatening challenges. This is the fourth time in 12 months Stone is chosen for a solo exhibition, following the success of three back-to-back shows with strong reviews (in Los Angeles, in Greenwich, and the show currently in Berlin until May 18).
“We are thrilled to bring the powerful art of Sharon Stone for the first time to San Francisco. As a former resident of the City, she is integral to our cultural fabric and we are honored to welcome her back with this new gallery show. 181 Fremont is committed to celebrating the intersection of art and our community with provocative and intriguing programs like this one,” says Matt Lituchy, the Chief Investment Officer of Jay Paul Company (JPC). Located at an altitude of 700 feet in the sky, the art gallery serves as the crown of this majestic tower developed by JPC. The visually dramatic space on the 69th floor is the “highest art gallery in the world,” with unsurpassed views of the Pacific Ocean, the Bay Bridge, and all the major landmarks across San Francisco.
The cover of San Francisco Magazine’s April issue heralds the exhibition’s debut, and writer Michael McCarthy previews the gallery show by stating: “This fearless woman’s story takes on a new chapter. She picks up a paintbrush in the most genius way. As always, opening herself up to the world honestly and completely. She even returns to San Francisco to begin the work of finally healing, after a monumental health scare and heartbreak. And now the world knows Sharon Stone as something entirely new, as bold as ever in her eternal quest at evolving.”
The near death experience of Stone’s 2001 brain injury in San Francisco profoundly impacted her creativity, allowing her to see colors in a whole new way. The trauma, which almost ended her life, forever changed her relationship to color ‒ expanding her ability to see more colors around her than ever before. “This creative breakthrough happened to me in San Francisco, eventually leading me to a whole new world of creativity where I’m at today, through painting,” says Sharon Stone.
The sense of place of this exhibition reinforces “in situ” references – works of art made for a specific place, or that reference the site in which they are to be shown. Works that reflect their surroundings or the architecture framing them, revealing the complex relationship people have to a place.
Stone captured inspiration for several of the new works from the landscapes and diversity of people in San Francisco, yet she also wanted to paint the story of her time in the early 2000s when she lived in this place. The exhibition centers on healing by confronting the vulnerabilities she experienced. “I want this exhibition to serve as a vehicle for self-forgiveness, and I hope it can help others do the same by letting go of societal stigmas and imposed perceptions,” says Stone. “In this way, failures become sources of strength, and to face them is to keep growing. The exhibition’s title My Eternal Failure is freeing for me.”
Stone admits it’s not easy returning to the places where she’s been hurt, but she is doing it. Returning to the scene where it happened and releasing it. “Perhaps the softer way would have been to just ignore and avoid it, but I’m choosing to learn from it. This new series of paintings required me to look into the darkest corners of my life, and it was liberating,” says Stone. “There was the bad space, but there is also the good space of making it through to the other side.”
About the Artist:
Sharon Stone’s art is praised by collectors and art world luminaries, including Jerry Saltz (Senior Art Critic for New York Magazine and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism). “In a sort of mystic unraveling, I see someone living a life in art. Being a freedom machine. She more than survives. Sharon Stone walked through the valley of death and into an art supply store,” says Jerry Saltz in his interview with Stone: https://www.vulture.com/article/sharon-stone-painting-art-jerry-saltz.html
Saltz recently selected Stone for his artist talks at the Vulture Fest in Los Angeles (watch the L.A. video here), and at the acclaimed 92nd Street Y in New York (watch the NY video here).
Prominent art critics celebrating Stone’s exhibitions include: Helen Stoilas’ review in CNN Style (The Compulsive Power of Sharon Stone’s Art) and Whitney Mallet’s review in Artnet News (Hollywood Icon Sharon Stone on Her Most Challenging Role Yet: An Abstract Painter).
The art historian Martin Oskar Kramer (Ph.D., Princeton University), says: “Stone’s paintings exude a raw and spontaneously expressive quality, resulting from a shifting alchemy of chaos and structure. An expression of the feminine that is deeply in touch with natural forces, fundamentally untamable. The recurring elements and symbols in her paintings signify change, flow and metamorphosis.”
Painting has been part of Stone’s life since she was a child, under the tutelage of her Aunt Vonne who had a Master’s degree in painting. Her aunt inspired Stone’s lifelong love of art, and would create murals across the walls of the home where Stone grew up in smalltown Pennsylvania.
Stone studied painting in college, but left to become a model in New York City. She went back to college in her late 50s in 2016, at Pennsylvania Western University to complete her degree in art and art history. During COVID lockdown, she returned to artmaking. Stone paints every day, sometimes up to 17 hours per day. The pandemic inspired her to redirect her creative energies, and her lifelong creative instincts transferred onto the canvas.
Stone was recently honored as the “Global Citizen of the Year” by the United Nations Correspondents Association, presented by the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. She is internationally recognized as a global cultural leader, her many honors include: the Women Making History Award from the National Women’s History Museum; the Einstein Spirit of Achievement Award; the Nobel Peace Summit Award Laureate; the Golden Globe Award; a Primetime Emmy Award; an Academy Award Nomination; she was named a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in France; the 2023 Courage Award; the Harvard Humanitarian Award; and the Human Rights Campaign Humanitarian Award. She is a New York Times bestselling author of The Beauty of Living Twice.
About 181 Fremont and Jay Paul Company:
This exclusive collection of paintings by Sharon Stone is available to view by private appointment by contacting: Carmen Legarda at Carmen@181Fremont.com. 181 Fremont’s art program is among the most innovative and comprehensive ever to exist in a private residential building. In addition to a permanent collection, there are more than 200 paintings, sculptures and mixed material works displayed throughout the building. Some of the recent world-class exhibitions include Jenny Holzer, Cao Fei, Keltie Ferris, Angel Otero, Eddie Martinez, POPE.L, Jessica Stockholder, McArthur Binion, and Teresita Fernandez. A landmark of imagination and ingenuity, 181 Fremont is the result of the world’s foremost architects, curators and artists coming together and striving for perfection. It is the most resilient tall residential building on the West Coast and has been Platinum LEED Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. More at www.181fremont.com. Jay Paul Company is a privately held, opportunity-driven real estate firm based in San Francisco, CA. Founded in 1975, the company concentrates on the acquisition, development, and management of prime commercial properties throughout California. Jay Paul Company developments consistently generate attractive returns for investment and development partners. With a specific focus on creating projects for leading technology firms, Jay Paul Company has successfully developed over fourteen million square feet of institutional quality, best in class workplaces. Read more at www.jaypaul.com.