Alex Donis
Spider and Officer Johnson, 2007
Serigraph, Ed. 83
20”x26”

Part of the Homombre collection

Spider and Officer Johnson is a print from 'WAR,' a painting series depicting police officers dirty dancing with gang members, originally scheduled to by exhibited at the Watts Towers Arts Center in 2001. The exhibit was threatened with protests and possible violent actions by members of the Watts community, prompting the exhibit to to be censored by the Cultural Affairs Department of Los Angeles. This image depicts an African-American gang member (Spider) extending his arms out to a LAPD officer (Officer Johnson) in the parting post of the 70s disco hustle. The joining of the archetypical hero and villain, about to engage in a playful dance, challenges accepted notions of homonormative masculinity and racial divisions in this image of reconciliation.

“Alex Donis is a Los Angeles-based visual artist whose work examines and redefines the boundaries set within religion, politics, race, and sexuality. Interested in toppling societies’ conventional attitudes, his work is often influenced by a tri-cultural (Pop, Latin and Queer) experience. He has worked extensively in a variety of media including painting, installation, photography, video, and works on paper.”