We caught Tender Alchemy at SMoCA during its final weekend and have been dreaming of quantum gateways ever since. This one-of-a-kind mother-daughter exhibition brought two individual practices together in a masterful way.
Moving through the show, materials constantly changed states—dissolving, deteriorating, reflecting, and hanging delicately in space. Light became a material of its own, casting color across walls, slipping through and around objects.
Beth Ames Swartz and Julianne Swartz have distinct practices, but throughout the exhibition you could see where they overlapped, responded to one another, and explored new territories.
One of our favorite parts of the show was where their newest works powerfully collided.
In a dark room filled with lustrous paintings, pineal-gland-tingling frequencies bounced around the room and traveled down your spine. The effect was completely transformative. We forgot we were even looking at paintings and got lost in the sounds and a cosmic soup of exploding color and texture.
It was like catching a glimpse into our past and future.
Not only was it powerful to see a show featuring two powerhouse artists, one living right here in the Valley, who are also women and share the relationship of mother and daughter, but it was so exciting to see contemporary artists exploring these fascinating arenas of psyche, spirituality, and transformation—especially in an age that often pushes these questions aside.
Two generations, two individual practices, and a relationship and history that existed long before any of this work entered a museum—all brought together and allowed to transform alongside one another.
We are forever grateful to have witnessed this epic collaboration in person.