I’m not as trained in the language of art as I am in the language of music, but I’m eager to learn. CASTLE is not a traditional gallery space.

TESS POLLOK: You used to work in music as Vice President of A&R at Columbia Records and CASTLE Gallery is your first foray into the contemporary art space. Would you say music is your first love? When did you get into collecting art?

HARLEY WERTHEIMER: Absolutely my first love, but I found that feeling again through art. It started for me at a shop called South Willard–a very important place for Los Angeles–which I’ve talked about before. It was originally a boutique in West Hollywood and now it’s a gallery in Chinatown. That was where I had a series of moments that started to shape my interest in fine art and design. Roy McMakin is someone that stands out from that time as having a particular impact on me. He melds fine art with design and furniture in a really interesting way. He just had this unique language that made me fall in love with craft and start looking at everything differently.

POLLOK: How do you approach curation?

WERTHEIMER: It really just stems from what I love. I can’t think of another throughline other than that I have a desire to show artists that I’m passionate about. I am certainly interested in the sense of “discovery” I get from seeing work for the first time that moves me, as I’m sure everyone is. When I did A&R, it was also a job that was all about discovery, so it’s clearly something that propels me forward. When I first started CASTLE, it was in my apartment. I wanted the space to feel intimate and set the stage for that opportunity to discover.

"10 Nudes," Lee Friedlander. Courtesy of CASTLE Gallery

POLLOK: You remind me of Lorca’s essay “Theory and Play of the Duende.” There’s a part where he talks about how the duende is a spirit that travels all through town, licking everything. Your interests are in music, in furniture, in contemporary art, you also have a restaurant–it’s very duende.

WERTHEIMER: That’s incredibly sweet. I’m seeing my old boss from Columbia Records tonight for dinner - he’s British and would always talk to me about the divide between American and UK ears. It was and I think continues to be much less rigid in terms of genre. The UK is always open to that shock of the new and that’s something I related to musically, and it’s something I relate to in art.

POLLOK: CASTLE has a unique architecture, it’s octagonal–or it’s a nonagon? [Laughs] It’s unconventional. What was the design process like? Did you pick the building for its odd shape?

WERTHEIMER: So, the building next door is actually the original Howard Hughes headquarters. The CASTLE building is the original guardhouse for that building. A friend of mine showed me this space ages ago–he was using it as storage. I’m a partner in a restaurant at the end of this block, so I was walking by it often. The building was switching owners a lot so I couldn’t reach a landlord, but I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I just always felt like it was supposed to be a part of my world for some reason. I didn’t do much to the space when I finally got it–just put up new walls in front of the windows, and made a few other superficial changes–other than that, the building is basically the same as it’s been since the ‘30s.

I wanted it to be sincere and intimate like my home space, but I also wanted people to take it seriously as a gallery. I guess I dressed up the apartment a bit, so I wanted to dress down the the gallery a bit. I want it to feel casual and I think we accomplished that with how we did the kitchenette, a picnic bench outside, etc. We even have a nod to Roy McMakin with the Dutch door.

POLLOK: What instincts or interests inform your choice of artists?

WERTHEIMER: [Laughs] That’s actually something I try to ask people who are smarter than me–“what do you think my taste is?”. I’m not sure myself. CASTLE doesn’t have a strict “mission statement”; I got an email from another gallery recently that reiterated their mission statement and I found it really cool and refreshing to read. It helped me understand the program more, where it’s been, where’s going. I don’t have as strong of a grasp on what that is, other than being honest with what I love and staying true to my vision. I’m clearly interested in painting, definitely, that seems to be something I’ve been drawn to over and over.

POLLOK: What do you think is unique about being a gallerist in LA?

WERTHEIMER: I don’t have a take, I’ve never been a gallerist anywhere else! LA is just unique so anyone being a gallerist in it feels unique to me.

POLLOK: Are there any upcoming shows that you’re excited about? Which shows from the past are you the most proud of?

WERTHEIMER: I am really excited for Cécile Lempert’s show coming October 4. We’ve had this show in the works for a long time and we were actually supposed to open it the weekend of the fires. Leopold Strobl is someone I’ve been a fan of for a long time as well and will be showing his work in November, maybe for the first time in LA.The Lee Friedlander’s nudes show was very special to me. I’m also really proud of the Magnus Frederik Clausen and Yu Nishimura show, “Subject Seconds.” It was a long time in the making, it took us almost two years to put it together. I didn’t even know that entire time if it was actually going to happen.

"Subject Seconds," Magnus Frederik Clausen and Yu Nishimura. Courtesy of CASTLE Gallery

POLLOK: What are some of your favorite galleries in LA?

WERTHEIMER: I really love a lot of programs. I guess what’s unique about LA gallerists is everyone does seem to be able to do their own thing. I started my journey with art just trying to see as much as I could, so there were a handful of galleries and gallerists that became friends and really helped me dream and feel okay taking a shot–South Willard as I mentioned, as well as Nonaka-Hill, Parker Gallery.

POLLOK: Do you like the intimacy that comes with running a small gallery?

WERTHEIMER: In a perfect world, I could keep the gallery exactly the way it is now forever. I don’t know, I just love this space. It works for my life and how I like to curate. Again, I’m still very much concerned with intimacy.

HARLEY WERTHEIMER is a music executive, gallerist, and restauranter based in Los Angeles. CASTLE Gallery is currently displaying an exhibition of the work of Deondre Davis. A show with Cécile Lempert opens October 4, 2025.

TESS POLLOK is a writer and the editor of Animal Blood.