Longtime friends and frequent collaborators Martin Mull and Steve Martin were often found on the same stand-up comedy bill, and they even shared a musical stage at the Troubadour back in the ‘70s. But those names are coming together next summer in a completely different way, when the Santa Barbara Museum of Art presents the exhibition Martin Mull: The Joys of Indoor/Outdoor Living, set to run next year from June 27 to October 17, 2027.
Curated by Martin and contemporary art heavyweight Ann Philbin, director emerita of the Hammer Museum UCLA, Los Angeles, where she served from 1999 to 2026, the exhibition is quite a coup for SBMA, as it will be the first major museum exhibition of Mull’s artwork in 20 years.
“I can't tell you how excited we are about it, but also excited to just get the news out,” shared Amada Cruz, SBMA’s Robert and Mercedes Eichholz director and CEO, in an exclusive interview about the project. “It was such a wonderful opportunity that we just jumped on it.”