Galerie Deschler in Berlin presents the European premiere of Sharon Stone’s art with the new exhibition Sharon Stone: Totem, on view February 17 through June 22.
“We are honored to present Sharon Stone’s compelling paintings in her first exhibition in Europe,” says Marcus Deschler, the owner of the Gallery. “I could always relate to her because I felt that she perfectly represented the values that have guided my own development: freedom, self-determination, and autonomy,” adds Deschler. During the art exhibition’s opening weekend, Cinema for Peace 2024 will be honoring Sharon Stone throughout Berlin at several major events.
The new gallery show features 12 paintings by Stone, most are new and have never been exhibited before. Her 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). 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 reviewers are celebrating Stone’s recent exhibitions in the U.S. including Helen Stoilas’ review in CNN Style (The Compulsive Power of Sharon Stone’s Art) and the review by Whitney Mallet in Artnet News (Hollywood Icon Sharon Stone on Her Most Challenging Role Yet: An Abstract Painter).
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.
“Totems are monuments to resilience and strength,” says Sharon Stone. “These paintings feel totemic to me. They communicate how my life can feel stacked in a certain way. My daily artmaking helps me fight my way out from under the weight of this alarming time we are all living through. It’s not about how we fall, it’s about how we get up. Wonder is the experience we want to live in,” adds Stone. “This exhibition came to me as a complete vision, from start to finish. Tapping into the female consciousness, my goal is to express ideas that are honest and authentic.”
“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 and fundamentally untamable,” says Dr. Martin Oskar Kramer, Art Historian at Galerie Deschler (Ph.D., Princeton University). “Her works express incessant and inevitable transformation. Many of the recurring elements and symbols in her paintings signify change, flow and metamorphosis. Snakes and rivers appear frequently – sometimes figuratively, or abstracted into undulating shapes and lines. Snakes, with their regular shedding of skin, are a symbol of constant transformation. Rivers, with their flowing currents of water, are a classic sign of continuous change underneath the illusion of stability,” adds Dr. Kramer.
Painting has been part of Stone’s life since she was a child. Her Aunt Vonne had a Master’s degree in painting and would create murals across the walls of the home where Stone grew up. In college, she studied painting. During the COVID pandemic, Stone returned to her artmaking, painting every day, sometimes up to 17 hours per day. This period of global crisis inspired her to redirect her creative energies. Her lifelong creative instincts are now transferred onto the canvas. Stone’s capacity to turn human frailties into sources of strength, and her ability to observe and interpret human behavior, shine through in ways that are combative, conquering, and victorious. Stone 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, among her many accolades. She is a New York Times bestselling author of her recent book The Beauty of Living Twice.
Selection press review:
ARD – Brisant
Artdaily
Berliner Morgenpost
Berliner Zeitung
FAD Magazine
SLEEK Magazine
Süddeutsche Zeitung
Tagesspiegel
Weltkunst
