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by Nina Beckwith FEATURED UCSF ARTIST | NINA'S ARTS NOTES 1st appeared 26 May 1998 Paul Stempen - Illustrator and Painter Paul Stempen is in love with old, beat-up trucks and cars. But only from afar: unlike other vintage car buffs, he has no interest in refurbishing or even driving them. Stempen is Senior Medical Illustrator in UCSF's Department of Urology and he is also a successful painter with a particular eye for San Francisco's hilly landscapes. Much-used vehicles parked on the city's steep streets are often the focus or feature of a Stempen painting where they become imbued with character and history. There is mystery, too, in his densely-painted nocturnal cityscapes, drawing the viewer into imagining the journeys of those now-sleeping jalopies and the lives behind the lamplit housefronts. "A lot of the skills I learned here at UCSF helped in my painting," Stempen says. He grew up in Philadelphia and after taking his BA in Art at Rutgers University in New Jersey, he came West for a Masters from the former UCSF Graduate Program in Medical Illustrating. As a freelancer he was soon enlisted by Frank Hinman, Professor of Urology, to prepare the illustrations for Hinman's Atlas of Urologic Surgery. In four years, Stempen made 1700 illustrations. "That's really where I learned to draw," he says. "Much of my work involved observing all the surgeries done here. I didn't understand it at first, had to go back often to the operating room and watch the procedures, study the literature, talk with the surgeons. It didn't happen overnight -- it took years before I really understood in a three-dimensional sense what goes on in urology."
There is beauty in Stempen's illustrations as well as the highest precision and accuracy. It is not surprising that his office wall is papered with Illustrated Medical Book Awards and many award certificates from the American Urology Association and the Association of Medical Illustrators. Stempen has been painting for many years, usually in oils on panels. "I do a lot of nocturnes because much of the year it's dark when I leave here," he says. "And I always work en plein air (outdoors with natural light, a practice begun by the French Impressionists), never from photographs. I need the direct presence and feel of the light so sometimes on weekends I drive out in the country to find different landscapes." Stempen has participated in the annual UCSF Art Show for years. In 1992, he started to show his paintings in San Francisco galleries. Recently, when his principal gallery closed, Stempen contacted Paul Thiebaud, son of the famous California painter Wayne Thiebaud and a partner in the important Campbell-Thiebaud Gallery in North Beach. "At first Thiebaud didn't give me much encouragement," Stempen recalls. "He said they were booked through the Millennium and already had too many artists, but he agreed to look at my work. "So I went over and when he saw my work he said, 'OK, we'll give you a show.' I was just knocked out because it's my favorite gallery. The show was in March of this year and when it ended they had sold 35 paintings out of 40. So I don't think they regret taking me in." Charles Campbell, the gallery's senior partner, confirms that Stempen's work is of "high quality." And, he says it's a kick to see familiar places on Potrero Hill, where he lives. "In fact, my wife and I bought one of his paintings right off the show." Rage Into Art = Healing Every woman is at risk for breast cancer. One out of every eight will get it. Every one of them will have to deal with shock, anger, pain, fear and varying degrees of disfigurement.
In one painting a woman unsparingly envisions her own surgery; others depict the scars, the chemo-baldness, and the stages of healing in many media: sculpture, photography, painting, and quilts. In a collage another woman displays many clippings and excerpts from "the overwhelming amount of information I was given, much of it contradictory." Some works are humorous, in a wry way: painted on silk is the famous Botticelli Venus with delicate hand over one breast and a neat little row of stitches instead of the other. ART.RAGE.US. is at the New Main Library (Civic Center) through June 14. Free. Library is open until 8 p.m. Tues., Wed., Thurs., 9 - 5 Sat., 12 - 5 Sun. On a comment card one viewer wrote: "I want my father, doctor, friends, everyone I know to see this. I feel blessed by the power and courage of these women." * * * * * Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was the last of the great 19th century Romantic composers of Austria and Germany. He created half a dozen poignantly beautiful song cycles with rich orchestral accompaniment and ten titanic symphonies, the last two unfinished. A hyper-intense, tormented man, he also led an exhausting career as a conductor in Europe and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The San Francisco Symphony will perform "A Celebration of Mahler" from June 11 to 28, in Davies Symphony Hall, conducted by its music director, the dynamic Michael Tilson Thomas, a lifelong advocate of Mahler's music. As lead-in to the Festival, MTT conducts Mahler's No. 2, the Resurrection Symphony in the last l997-98 regular season concerts May 27, 28, 29, and 30. Soloists are Rebecca Evans, soprano, and Florence Quivar, mezzo-soprano, with the wonderful SFS Chorus. A Mahler Symposium on June 11 featuring discussion and performances will open the Celebration, free of charge but tickets are required. Mahler concert programs range from the early Songs of a Wayfarer , sung by beloved mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade (a Bay Area resident) to his Symphony No. 8, called the Symphony of a Thousand and rarely performed because it employs such massive forces: an enlarged orchestra, eight vocal soloists, and a chorus of more than 250 voices. Truly a titanic experience. Three-Concert packages may still be available at a saving of 10%. But hurry: this is bound to be one of SFS's most popular festivals. Box office phone 415/ 864-6000; Fax 554-0108. * * * * * Coming up soon are the last three Conversations in City Arts & Lectures l998 Spring Cultural Affairs series: - May 26: John Fowles,
English novelist (The French Lieutenant's Woman, etc.); All Programs at Herbst Theatre (Civic Center) 8 p.m. Tickets $16. Information: 392-4400. * * * * * Easy Rider Behind the Camera Dennis Hopper first became known as actor, screenwriter, and director in the 60's with the film Easy Rider. He continues to act in movies and he has established another career as a photographer and painter exhibiting widely in the US, Europe and Japan. Until July 12, four decades of Hopper's works are being shown at the Ansel Adams Center for Photography, 250 Fourth Street (bet. Howard & Folsom, near Moscone Center.) Open Tues. through Sun. 11-5, first Thurs. to 8. Students $3; Adults $5. Seniors & Youths $2. Phone 495-7000. Photographs include striking black and white portraits of well-known artists such as Rauschenberg, Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, and Andy Warhol, and of celebrities Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bill Cosby, among others. Most of the paintings use unusual combinations of photo emulsion, acrylic, rolotex and spray paint on canvas. * * * * * Picturing History Manzanar , California, was the site of a large camp where more than 10,000 Japanese Americans were interned during World War II. One of the internees was Tojo Miyatake, who had been a professional photographer in Los Angeles until l941. He was able to devise a camera from wood and plumbing fixtures and record an insider's view of camp life and the struggle for dignity within the reality of confinement. Later, two of America's most famous photographers, Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange, went to Manzanar on assignments, and still later Miyatake's son and grandson photographed the site which was designated a National Landmark in l985. Their precious and very moving images and others are on view through October 18 at the Ansel Adams Center for Photography in rooms adjoining the Hopper Show. Special events related to Manzanar are scheduled on June 27, July 2, and August 1. Information: 495-7272. |
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Stempen has
now been on UCSF staff for 10 years. He continues to work
with Hinman, now Professor Emeritus, as well as the 12
current members of the Urology faculty, plus clinical
faculty and residents, providing illustrations for their
journal articles and books; posters for urology meetings;
the Department's 
Of special
interest to UCSF health care givers, ART. RAGE.
US. is an extraordinary exhibit of 80 works by
women who faced breast cancer and responded by creating
visual art or written statements. As one woman wrote,
"Inner healing cannot begin until the first steps
are taken expressing one's anger and rage."