Craig Krull Gallery is pleased to present New volcanic works, a selection of recent paintings by Los Angeles-based artist Kelly Berg. The exhibition will be on view in the gallery office from February 1 to March 15, with an opening reception on February 1 from 4 to 6pm. This show celebrates the opening of Berg’s most comprehensive solo museum exhibition to date, Illuminated Earth, on view at the Bakersfield Museum of Art from January 30 - May 3, 2025.

This group of paintings, which features volcanoes around the world, presents these striking sites of geologic convergence as studies of time and impermanence. From Vesuvius to the volcanoes on Hawai’i, Berg traverses, records, and then recreates these primordial sites in an array of materials, including acrylic, ink, pumice, and mirror shards. In her paintings, the innermost material of the earth bursts out; conglomerated acrylic goes beyond impasto to form craggy edges that contain eruptions and fractures, simultaneously science projects and shrines. Through the personal observation and creative transmutation of these sublime moments, Berg invites us to consider our precarious positions at the edge—and to create, even in the event of destruction.

Kelly Berg (b. 1986) paintings and mixed media sculptural works explore the ever-shifting nature of our world, depicting the movement of tectonic plates, volcanic eruptions, and dramatic geologic formations. Situated in the history of landscape painting, she offers new perspectives on the natural world and the sublime. Berg received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2008, and her work has been exhibited in many galleries and museums including the Laguna Art Museum, the Lancaster Museum of Art and History, USC Fisher Museum of Art, the Royal Palace of Portici Museum of Herculaneum, The LA International Airport, The Ronald H. Silverman Fine Arts Gallery at California State University, and the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University.