Hilary Brace is recognized for her intimately sized, yet sublime charcoal drawings of waves, clouds and wildly Baroque weather. In reviewing her drawings, The New York Times wrote, "once in a while you come across an art of such refined technique that it seems the product of sorcery more than human craft..." Starting with the smooth surface of polyester film darkened with charcoal, Brace works in a reductive manner by removing charcoal with erasers and other handmade tools. According to Christopher Knight of the LA Times, the work "conjures ephemeral poetics of light and space." The exhibition at Craig Krull Gallery opening on January 20 will feature a group of recent drawings, and will also premiere her new work in tapestries. While a visiting artist at the American Academy of Rome, Brace was inspired by Raphael's tapestries, and considered how she could translate her images into large-scale textile pieces. She was introduced to the TextielMuseum in Tilberg, The Netherlands and began working with their TextielLab. The sophisticated Jacquard looms allowed for fine detail and complex thread combinations that resulted in what Brace calls, "a light-reactive surface..so that the pieces change in response to the light source or position of the viewer."

Like a Zen master, Japanese photographer Yamamoto Masao approaches his work with an "active passiveness." He is active in his observations of Nature, but passive in his understanding that he is an inextricable part of Nature itself. Living in the forest, he photographically "harvests" what he calls "treasures breathing quietly in nature." For Yamamoto, the act of making a photograph is like picking up a rock on the beach and holding the universe in your hands. His seventh exhibition at Craig Krull Gallery is titled, Tori, the Japanese word for bird. He states, "As a small boy in the countryside in Japan, I enjoyed looking up at the sky. From my classroom window, I gazed at the windblown clouds, and was mesmerized by airborne creatures such as birds, butterflies and winged bugs. What do we see in birds? I keep looking for the answers while departing on yet another journey."