Diary
Mao & Me
By Steve Martin
Photo: Keith Lubow
On the occasion of “L.A. Story,” a group exhibition organized in dialogue with Steve Martin, featuring work by classic and contemporary Los Angeles artists, Martin shares a wry, movie-adjacent piece from his personal collection.
“I know nothing about the origins of this little stumpy sculpture, except that I had admired it in a design shop on La Cienega, and Richard E. Grant gave it to me as a wrap gift when the shooting of L.A. Story ended. I could never figure out if it was meant to be an actual tribute to Mao or if it lived in Warhol’s Mao world of irony. I put it on a table and haven’t moved it in forty years.”
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Actor, comedian, author, playwright, screenwriter, producer and musician Steve Martin is one of the most acclaimed performers of his generation. Martin’s work has earned him an Academy Award, five Grammys, an Emmy, the Mark Twain Award, an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award and a Kennedy Center Honor. As an author, Martin’s work includes the novel An Object of Beauty (2010), the play Picasso at the Lapin Agile (1993), a collection of comic pieces Pure Drivel (1998), a bestselling novella Shopgirl (2000) and his memoir Born Standing Up (2007).
“L.A. Story” is on view at Hauser & Wirth West Hollywood through January 4, 2025.