The Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) will host "Martin Mull: The Joys of Indoor/Outdoor Living," a major museum exhibition of the late actor-comedian's paintings, co-curated by comedian Steve Martin and former Hammer Museum Director Ann Philbin. Opening in June 2025 and running through October, the show features over 50 works from Mull's estate and private collections of entertainment figures including Steve Martin, Jennifer Tilly, and Ted and Nicole Sarandos. It is the first museum survey of Mull's art in 20 years and the second curatorial collaboration between Martin and Philbin, following their 2015 exhibition on Lawren Harris at the Hammer Museum.
This exhibition matters because it reframes Martin Mull's legacy, asserting that his painting—not his celebrated comedic roles—was his primary artistic passion and achievement. Mull's work, described as "peculiar" and "deeply strange," uses surreal, narrative scenes to critique postwar American tensions around race, politics, and existential anxiety. By bringing these works into a major museum context, the show challenges assumptions about celebrity artists and elevates Mull's serious, decades-long painting practice, which he pursued alongside his entertainment career. The collaboration between Steve Martin and Ann Philbin also underscores the growing trend of cross-disciplinary curatorship in major institutions.