Actress Sharon Stone’s painting journey began as a hobby when a friend gifted her a paint-by-numbers book during the pandemic. Three years later, it has evolved into a professional endeavor, with Stone dedicating 17 hours a day to painting. She currently has a solo exhibition in Berlin, and next month another exhibition will open in San Francisco.
“Before we start killing and maiming and wounding thousands of women and children, we need big brains, more emotional intelligence, not more small-penis energy. My painting is about all that.”
Actress Sharon Stone’s painting journey began as a hobby when a friend gifted her a paint-by-numbers book during the pandemic. Three years later, it has evolved into a professional endeavor, with Stone dedicating 17 hours a day to painting. She currently has a solo exhibition in Berlin, and next month another exhibition will open in San Francisco.
If Sharon Stone weren’t already famous, could her paintings have been displayed in a gallery? In an interview with The Guardian, Stone gives a candid response, saying, ‘Probably not,’ but adds, ‘I would be more valuable if I were dead. If there is the possibility of a shorter life expectancy, that’s a winner for female artists.”
Stone is aware that she could earn significant amounts of money if only she gave galleries what they wanted: “Johnny Depp is printing pictures of people, putting some paint over it and signing it, and making a fortune,” she says. (Two years ago, Depp’s debut art collection Friends and Heroes, consisting of 780 screen prints of the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Dylan and Keith Richards, sold for an estimated $3.65m.) “I had galleries approach me and say, ‘Could you please make prints of your face?’ I think it’s my duty not to do that. It’s my job to open a window for other women and hold it open further.”
Stone attributes her passion for art to her aunt and recounts that she chose to pursue modeling to earn money after leaving her art studies at university.
A part of New York’s renowned Studio 54 scene, Stone had a non-speaking role in Woody Allen’s “Stardust Memories” in 1980. A decade later, she rose to fame with “Total Recall” and subsequently “Basic Instinct.”
However, Stone never reached the pinnacle of her ’90s success again. Apart from not landing the roles she desired, she suffered a stroke caused by a brain haemorrhage, an event that inspired the title of her autobiography. Stone later wrote an autobiography, in which she described this event as a transformative moment in her life. “When a door closes, I have to open another one,” she says. “My book’s been sold in 22 countries so far.” Currently, Stone is working on a novel.
The Berlin show is called Totem. “Totems often serve as monuments to resilience and strength,” says Stone. “These paintings feel totemic to me. My daily art-making helps me fight my way out from under the weight of this alarming time we are all living through.”
The exhibition features a painting titled “Please Don’t Step On The Grass.” Inspired by Stone’s visits to Israel in 2006, the painting has taken on a new significance following the attacks on Israel on October 7th and the subsequent devastation in Gaza. “Before we start killing and maiming and wounding thousands of women and children, we need big brains, more emotional intelligence, not more small-penis energy. My painting is about all that.”
“Is she happier as a painter?” She responds, “I’m not saying that. Working as an actress, I absolutely loved it. If someone offers me a substantial role, I’m going to take it. But that’s not happening.”
With her acting career on pause, Stone emphasizes the importance of staying creative. “It’s really important to continue to be artistically creative, to let that faucet flow, so that your art stays ever present and modern.”
Source: Guardian