A MAN IN PLAIN SIGHT
Civic Art Commission, 2022–2024 LA County Department of Arts and Culture, Civic Art Division Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, Hall of Records, 6th Floor 320 W. Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Project Details
Title: A Man in Plain Sight Year: 2023 Medium: Graphite and acrylic on paper Dimensions: 42″ H × 60″ W Materials: Strathmore 500 Series Paper; Staedtler graphite pencils; Liquitex black acrylic gesso; Molotow One4All acrylic paint (black and white) Commissioning Body: LA County Department of Arts and Culture, Civic Art Division Unveiling: April 4, 2024 Status: Permanent collection, Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office
Project Overview
A Man in Plain Sight was created as part of a civic art commission administered by the LA County Department of Arts and Culture’s Civic Art Division in partnership with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office. Alejandre was one of eight artists selected for the project, which transformed the Public Defender’s Office at the Hall of Records into what the office’s director described as a “museum-level gallery.” Fellow commissioned artists included Kenturah Davis, Andrew Hem, Moses Ball, Elana Mann, Sergio Teran, Ian Robertson-Salt, and Jody Zellen.
In keeping with the Civic Art Division’s community engagement process, Alejandre immersed himself in the daily operations of the Public Defender’s Office prior to developing his artwork proposal. This included shadowing attorneys, spending time in offices and courtrooms, and engaging directly with staff and clients. The resulting work reflects that firsthand understanding of the institution’s mission and the human experiences at its center.
The commission is funded through LA County’s Civic Art Policy, which dedicates one percent of design and construction costs for capital projects on County facilities to the creation of original civic artworks.
Artistic Concept
A Man in Plain Sight continues Alejandre’s sustained investigation of masculinity within both public and private spheres. The work depicts a single subject across multiple contexts, portraying an ordinary man as he moves through the legal system: on the street, within the courtroom, and at home. The composition presents five distinct figurative moments simultaneously, resisting any singular or reductive narrative and insisting on the subject’s full humanity.
The central figure stands with hands clasped, composed and dignified, set against a stark black background and a field of jail bars. Surrounding him are other iterations of himself: a man in a Dodgers jersey representing daily life, a figure seen from behind confronting the legal system, a father holding a young child. Each vantage point contributes to a portrait of complexity and resilience rather than of judgment or diminishment.
The work speaks directly to the mission of the Public Defender’s Office: that no person should be defined solely by their worst moment or their involvement with the legal system. As Alejandre has described, the figure “serves as a representative of the typical person who lacks resources and a well-established social network,” and the work affirms that with the right advocate, the full complexity of a person’s identity can be recognized and defended.
The artist’s brother and grandson served as the primary models for the work.
Technical Execution
The work was executed using Alejandre’s signature crosshatching method, in which thousands of individual graphite lines are layered to build form, volume, and tonal depth. The technique demands an extraordinary degree of precision and sustained attention, and took approximately eight months to complete.
The stark black background was hand-painted using black acrylic gesso, applied to both the front and reverse of the Strathmore 500 Series paper to ensure stability and archival integrity. The area behind the jail bars was rendered in acrylic paint to create a distinct visual register, separating that zone from the graphite-dominant foreground.
Recognition
At the April 4, 2024 unveiling, Alejandre was presented with a County of Los Angeles Commendation by Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, First District, in recognition of his contributions to the community and civic life of Los Angeles County.
Los Angeles County Public Defender Ricardo Garcia acknowledged the commissioned artists collectively for “giving justice its voice in the language of art.”
Collection and Legacy
The work is held in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office and is accessible to staff, clients, and the public at the Hall of Records, 6th Floor. It is documented in the official publication Art & Social Justice: LA County Civic Art for the Public Defenders Office (2024), distributed by the LA County Department of Arts and Culture.
This commission represents a significant expansion of Alejandre’s engagement with civic and institutional contexts, following his 2016 permanent installation at the Metro Westwood/Rancho Park Station and the acquisition of his work by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago.