Bienvenu Steinberg & J is pleased to present Tenderness, Julianne Swartz’s sixth solo exhibition with the gallery. Swartz works with subtle phenomena as a means to heighten sensitivity. Reducing materials to their most ephemeral and precarious states, she crafts sound, ambient light, and kinetic energy into physiological encounters. Her work engages a palpable vulnerability: the tenderness of bodies, the fragility of form, and the susceptibility of matter to the intangible. The exhibition presents work from four new series—T-Scores, Emptiness weaves, Corner Zeros and Spectrum.

The Tenderness Scores (T-Scores) tremble, murmur, shudder and quake with sonic energy. Made of handmade paper, wire, steel, ceramic and magnets, the disquieting sculptures embody invisible presence and tangible absence. They are extremely sensitive transmitters : a capillary of inner workings conducts vibrations through the slightest means - febrile wires, magnetic forces and undercurrents of air. The sculptures incite affective response through both sound and movement, gently honing a visitor's aural and somatic perceptions. Scores of audible and inaudible sounds pass through the sculptures, choreographing movement, reverberating through surfaces, and animating attenuated lines. As one moves around the space,layers of subtle sound elbow for room, oscillating between harmony and contention. The works inherently ask for presence- inviting visitors  to slow down, listen and notice. 

Emptiness Weaves are inspired by text from the early Buddhist Mahāyāna scriptures Heart Sutra, “Form is emptiness (śūnyatā), emptiness is form.” In these fugitive woven tapestries, hair-thin copper filaments delineate empty space to create delicate networks of voids. Emptiness becomes substance. Loss, vulnerability, anxiety, revival, presence, and interconnectivity are subtext. The works gather substance from almost nothing.

Several works activate the architecture of the gallery space and call attention to the overlooked. Corner Zeros are barely visible polished steel circles and tiny instances of color that hover weightlessly, suspended in corners.. Milled wood planks of various sizes lean inconspicuously against the wall, initially appearing as by-products of an installation in progress. Titled Spectrum, their underbellies conceal bands of reflective color. Shy rainbows peek out, after a storm. 

Swartz relies on our presence. Interactivity doesn’t turn into spectacle; it is intrinsically interwoven with her practice. Attention paid is care, and care is ultimately, communion.

Born in Phoenix, AZ, Julianne Swartz lives and works in Stone Ridge, New York. Swartz will debut a new immersive, multisensory installation at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in 2025. Selected exhibitions include Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, ME (2020); Phoenix Art Museum, AZ (2020);  Institute of Contemporary Art, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA (2018); Museum of Art and Design, NY, NY (2017); Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, NH (2017); Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA (2016); Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia (2016) Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN (2014); De Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, NL (2013); The Highline, New York (2011); The Jewish Museum, New York (2009); Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT (2007); Liverpool Biennial, Tate Museum, UK (2006); and Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2004). A 15-year survey of her work, How Deep is Your, opened at the deCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA in 2012 and traveled to the Contemporary Art Museum, Scottsdale, AZ (2013) and the Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN (2014).