Typically executed on canvas, lightboxes or Plexiglas, Alex Donis' paintings portray well-known individuals from different ends of the cultural spectrum who are joyfully, if only temporarily, united. Donis' 1997 installation "My Cathedral," held at Galeria de la Raza in San Francisco, showed various same-sex pairs of well-known figures—Pope John Paul and Mahatma Ghandi, the pop star Madonna and Mother Theresa—passionately locking lips. "War," his 2001 series of paintings depicting male gangbangers and cops "dirty dancing," drew controversy despite their essentially utopian outlook. Works from this series had been on view for a mere three days at the Watts Towers Art Center before the show was closed by the city's Cultural Affairs Department, which cited numerous complaints from city residents as well as from members of the LAPD. (The exhibition was quickly reconstituted and shown in full at the Frumkin/Duval Gallery in Santa Monica.)