Secret San Diego arts

Balboa Park museums do surgery on masterpieces

“At this point, I have removed the old discolored varnish and the old inpainting that no longer matched, but there is a residual varnish down within the interstices of the brushstrokes that is very noticeable in the lighter areas of the tabletop. If I can get that out, I will. If my tests show me — and I’ll be doing this under the microscope — that whatever solvent would be needed to get out that very tough old material would endanger the original paint, then I’ll leave it. By Stephen Dobyns, Jan. 16, 1997 Read full article

Most San Diegans won't eat snooty food

“The American supermarket is a child's idea of cornucopia. They are wonderful, in their way, but nothing has any taste. People can’t tell the difference between Zacky’s and free-range chicken, except that they probably prefer the former. In London, you know, I used to make a veal with a jus de persil, a parsley sauce, very concentrated, very intense. I served it here and it was sent back. It was too green! It really alarmed them. And it’s out of the question to use kidneys or liver or brains.

By Lawrence Osborne, May 28, 1992 Read full article

Remember you must die, and someone has to carve your epitaph

“The Jewish retain more of their customs. Catholics are still strong with theirs, too. You get a good, strong Italian family and they’ve still got it. American Indians have unveiling rituals at the anniversary of their deaths. But the Orientals that are coming over are just steeped in tradition. They have to take things to the grave. When we’re setting the stone, they’re over there with their mats, they’ve got books and things that they’re doing.”

By Mary Lang, Aug. 26, 1993 Read full article

A little bit warped and kind of sexy

"My clue was Caravaggio. He was thoroughly trounced for using Christ and religious figures in his paintings. He didn’t paint them in the clothing and rooms of their day; he’d update them to his own period and put them in 14th- and 15th-century dress. That was a very odd thing at the time. That was my move too: I would update paintings so the so they had this new hyper-realist look, use my friends as models, put sailors in, stuff I knew about."

By Patrick Daugherty, Oct. 6, 1994 Read full article

Mice and peacocks

"Olive is the color of the moment right now. but the old dark blues, greys, and glen plaids are right where they’ve always been. Only black has dropped out of it — too funereal.” Not many people even in La Jolla can be seen strutting about in a beautiful Southwick two-piece, but at least here the Southern Californian man can anchor himself in a mythic past that soars above the scruffy present world of flapping beachwear, sloganized baseball caps, and demagogic crop-tops.

By Lawrence Osborne, Aug. 27, 1992 Read full article

San Diego fireworks fans in a county that forbids them

Pyro Spectaculars had entered the San Diego market about 1973, and it posed the first serious competition for the Pelusos, according to Dixon. But the demand for professional fireworks displays here also grew fast in the ’70s and early ’80s. When Dixon looked at San Diego Fireworks’ assets after the Peluso brothers decided to close the company, he saw an untapped potential. “Being a business major, you’re always kind of frustrated running a business for somebody else."

By Jeannette DeWyze, July 3, 1997 Read full article