On view until 31 August, the show is titled My Eternal Failure, in reference to the life lessons Stone experienced during her six years living in San Francisco, an incredibly vulnerable time in her life.
It was in San Francisco that Stone suffered a stroke and brain haemorrhage. The exhibition is an ode to the place where she realised her strengths could overcome life-threatening challenges.
The near-death experience 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 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 centres 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,” she says.
“There was the bad space, but there is also the good space of making it through to the other side.”
Matt Lituchy – the Chief Investment Officer of Jay Paul Company (JPC), which developed San Francisco’s 181 Fremont Residences, housing Gallery 181 – says JPC is thrilled to bring the powerful art of Sharon Stone to San Francisco for the first time.
“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,” he says.
Gallery 181, located at an altitude of 700 feet in the sky, is touted as the “highest art gallery in the world”, and boasts views of the Pacific Ocean and all of San Francisco’s major landmarks.
