Art and Gallery News: Sharon Stone's paintings delve into "the Power of Confronting Vulnerability" now on show in San Francisco

Renowned Hollywood star Sharon Stone unveils a new exhibition of her paintings in San Francisco, delving into the theme of "The Power of Confronting Vulnerability."  

The Bay by Sharon Stone (2024).
Acrylic on canvas, diptych 48" x 96"

Taking place at Gallery 181, of 181 Fremont Residences, the show, entitled: "My Eternal Failure" running from April 11 until August 31 2024,  presents a collection of 18 never-before-seen paintings curated by Stone herself.   This exhibition serves as a poignant reflection on the artist's transformative experiences during her six-year tenure in San Francisco, a period marked by profound vulnerability. Through this collection, Stone pays homage to the city where she discovered the resilience to overcome life's most daunting challenges.  Each painting serves as a testament to her resilience in overcoming life's most daunting obstacles.

Following the resounding success of her previous exhibitions in Los Angeles, Greenwich, and Berlin (now running until May 18 2024), this marks Stone's fourth solo exhibition within a year, attesting to her enduring creative prowess and profound impact on the art world.

Jester by Sharon Stone (2023).
Acrylic on canvas, 36" x 18"

Located at an altitude of 700 feet in the sky, the Gallery 181 serves as the crown of this majestic tower developed by Jay Paul Company (JPC).  The visually dramatic space on the 69th floor is the “highest art gallery in the world,” offers unparalleled views of the Pacific Ocean, the Bay Bridge, and San Francisco's iconic landmarks.

Stone's near-death experience in San Francisco in 2001 profoundly influenced her artistic vision, enabling her to perceive colours in a newfound light. This creative breakthrough birthed her journey into painting, a transformative process she continues to explore today.

“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 honoured to welcome her back with this new gallery show," says Matt Lituchy, the Chief Investment Officer of JPC. “181 Fremont is committed to celebrating the intersection of art and our community with provocative and intriguing programs like this one.”     

Portrait of Sharon Stone, by Eric Michael Roy

The near death experience of Sharon Stone’s 2001 brain injury in San Francisco profoundly impacted her creativity, allowing her to see colours in a whole new way.  The trauma, which almost ended her life, forever changed her relationship to colour ‒ expanding her ability to see more colours 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 Bridge by Sharon Stone (2024).
Acrylic on canvas, 60" x 72"

The sense of place of this exhibition reinforces “in situ” references – works of art that are 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 art 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,” says Stone.    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” adds Stone.    

Bonne Nuit by Sharon Stone (2024).
Acrylic on canvas, 60" x 72"

Stone also has a gallery show currently in Europe at Galerie Deschler Berlin (on view now until May 18 2024). More than 14,000 people have visited Stone's Berlin exhibition since it opened on Feb. 7. Her Berlin show will be featured during the upcoming Gallery Weekend Berlin (April 26-28), one of the leading contemporary art events in Europe attracting more than 30,000 visitors from around the world.

Stone's exhibitions in both Berlin and San Francisco underscore her enduring impact on the global art scene, earning accolades from esteemed critics like Jerry Saltz (the Senior Art Critic for New York Magazine and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism) and art historian Martin Oskar Kramer.  

“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 extensive artist interview with Stone on vuture.com

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.”