Patrick Stull: Evolve — A Woman’s Journey

For 20 years Patrick Stull has been exploring the multifaceted aspects of women, their personalities, obstacles and victories. Now he brings his exhibition, Evolve — A Woman’s Journey, to the Fort Mason Center from June 22 through July 1, 2012.

This multimedia exhibition focuses on women creating and bringing forth life. Women in various stages of pregnancy will be presented in large-scale digital photographs, sculpture, drawing, and painting. In his photography, Stull uses fabric, color and light swirling around the female form to create fluid, dreamlike interpretations of physical metamorphosis during the childbearing process. To create sculptures of pregnant women, Stull uses body casts and combines them with various media including paper, plastic, resin, cement, and wax. The fractures in some sculptures reemphasize the idea of pregnancy as transformation, suggesting a butterfly leaving a chrysalis or the shedding of skin.

The exhibition is part of an ongoing series investigating the complexities surrounding the lives of women. “For me, and hopefully for the viewer, this body of work is all about discovery,” said Stull. “The power of art is that it can reflect what’s already happening in the world, it can touch something very personal within each of us, and it can inspire humanity to change.”

Evolve — A Woman’s Journey: Fort Mason Center, Festival Pavilion, Buchanan Street (at Marina Boulevard), June 22–July 1, 10 a.m.–9 p.m., $25, www.patrickstull.com
— S. Anderson