"It was never on my radar to be a curator. I think [curatorial work] is best left to scholars," said actor, writer and musician Steve Martin in a recent talk at the UCLA Hammer Museum about the exhibition, “The Idea of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris,” which was co-curated by Martin, a longtime admirer of the pioneering Canadian artist.
“I almost instantly said, ‘Oh no, that’s absurd,” Martin recalled of an invitation he received from Hammer director Ann Philbin to curate the exhibit. “But I said to myself, ‘I love Lawren Harris, I’ve been an admirer and studied him for many, many years. And what an opportunity … to pull the curtain back on [his work].
Martin made his remarks during a public presentation with New Yorker essayist and staff writer Adam Gopnik on Monday, Oct. 5. See a video of their discussion here.
“The Idea of North,” which Bloomberg News recently named as “one of the 10 best must-see museum shows this fall, worldwide,” runs through Jan. 24, 2016. Visit the Hammer Museum for more information and a slideshow of selected paintings.