Craig Krull opened Turner/Krull Gallery on Melrose Avenue in 1991, focusing on the exceptional, yet underrepresented Los Angeles photography community, including Anthony Hernandez, Robbert Flick, John Divola, JoAnn Callis, Edmund Teske and Julius Shulman.  He also brought back to LA, major photographers who had not exhibited here in a while, such as Robert Adams, Frederick Sommer and William Eggleston.  The 90s saw explosive growth in the photography market, a revitalized interest in the medium and its history, as well as tremendous cross-fertilization of photography with other visual art forms. Krull curated exhibitions on the history of Photomontage, Neue Sachlichkeit Photography, and a landmark exhibit, “Action/Performance and the Photograph,” which examined the relationship of still photography and Performance Art.

In 1994, the re-named Craig Krull Gallery, became a founding member of the newly established Bergamot Station Art Center in Santa Monica, joining legendary LA gallerists Rosamund Felsen, Patricia Faure, Burnett Miller and others.  The gallery was no longer exclusively photo-based, but maintained its dedication to LA artists, exhibiting the quintessential California Light and Space artist Peter Alexander,, the renowned portrait artist Don Bachardy, the photographer/painter/actor Dennis Hopper, the powerfully raw, savage and often confrontational work of Llyn Foulkes, and the witty assemblages of Alexis Smith.  Krull’s interest in LA art history, linked with his own history of exhibiting photography, was combined in his curated exhibition, “Photographing the L.A. Art Scene: 1955-1975,” which included pictures of this seminal period by Jerry McMillan, Julian Wasser and the key LA Beat Generation photographer, Charles Brittin, whom Krull re-introduced in a major retrospective that he co-curated with Walter Hopps.  A native of Los Angeles, Krull was raised with an awareness and passion for Chicano art and culture and represents some of the leading figures in this movement such as Carlos Almaraz, Gilbert “Magu” Lujan, Gronk, and Dora De Larios, a wonderful ceramist of fanciful, anthropomorphic animals, mythic warriors, and Latina goddesses.  Krull explored another fascinating and under-recognized genre in LA with his exhibition, Narrative Painting in Los Angeles, featuring large scale “history” paintings of Sandow Birk, Carl Dobsky, James Doolin, DJ Hall, and F. Scott Hess among others.  The gallery has exhibited a number of women artists in Los Angeles who work in textiles, clay, fishing nets, beads and other organic textural materials.  Nine of these artists, including Blue McRight, Brittany Mojo and Lavialle Campbell were featured in the group exhibition, of rope and chain her bones are made, marking a new direction for the gallery into ceramics and other work evidencing the hand of the artist.

The gallery is also pleased to represent a number of bold and dynamic young women painters such as Kelly Berg, whose interest in tectonics is embodied in volcanic and even mystic incantations, and Caroline Larsen, whose thick, juicily extruded paintings were introduced to the gallery in the group show, Paint is a Thing, curated by former gallery director, Beth Parker.

Craig Krull Gallery will continue to provide a thoughtfully curated, educational platform for the art of our time, in the culturally diverse community of Southern California, one of the leading and exponentially expanding art scenes in the world.