Dear John

THE PARTY It was a big night for San Diego’s art scene when the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego opened John Baldessari: A Print Retrospective at its La Jolla campus. THE EXHIBIT MCASD and Baldessari go waaay back. In 1960, when it was known as the La Jolla Art Center, MCASD gave the National City conceptual artist his first exhibit. This time around, the museum collected his entire body of printmaking, including more than 100 works made between 1973 and 2010, from the collection of philanthropist Jordan Schnitzer. (The exhibit goes through May. Run!) THE SCENE Baldessari, whose “Brain/ Cloud” mural hangs above La Jolla Cove, graced the museum with his towering presence on this evening. Baldassari’s body of paradoxical and witty work is some of the art world’s most recognizable. Take, for example, “God Nose,” where a huge schnoz floats alongside puffy clouds. A clever MCASD curator hung it on the ceiling. After all, the nose knows. Photography by Doug Gates