Angel "LA II" Ortiz Tagging Up The East Village

Artist Angel "LA II" Ortiz has been busy. As you can see in the photo at left, (nicked from EV Grieve), Ortiz recently embellished the Joe Strummer mural on Seventh Street and Avenue A with his LA ROC tag and a few highlights. DNAInfo reports he was arrested for tagging a wall on Second Avenue last week. And he once again left his mark on the Bowery Wall, as well as recorded a short video recounting a weekend out with Keith Haring, his one time collaborator, in the 80s. A commenter on EV Grieve isn't happy with Ortiz's recent burst of activity, "who's suddenly leaving his mark all over these days." "Personally," they wrote, "I'm pissed, cuz the E-ville is NOT his, no matter how many places he leaves his name." True, the East Village does not belong to one man. But Ortiz has been around for a few decades, so maybe he can have a just little of it?

More on Angel Ortiz:

• Little Angel Was Here: A Keith Haring Collaborator Makes His Mark [The New York Times]
  
• Keith Haring's Silent Partner [The Village Voice]
  
• The Fabricated History [Clayton Patterson]
  
• LA II Art

» Follow NYC The Blog on Facebook and Twitter. Photo credit: EV Grieve

Angel Ortiz, aka LA II: A Day In The Life With Keith Haring (Video)

L-R: Angel Ortiz and Keith Haring 1982 exhibition flier and Haring's tribute mural filled in by Ortiz by Flickr user wallyg

Angel Ortiz, a.k.a. LA II, is talking. Kenny Scharf's mural on the Bowery Wall was again "attacked" twice this week by other graffiti artists. LA II, and early collaborator of Keith Haring, was responsible on one occasion.

"All they want to do is paint and have sex."  

In 2008, LA II famously filled in the Haring mural on the wall. The "onetime protégé of Haring," as The New York Times wrote, LA feels inadequately credited and compensated for artwork he helped create with Haring. Just last week, Clayton Patterson laid out a case in The Villager documenting the lack of attribution and credit due Ortiz.

In video uploaded to YouTube on March 5, Ortiz recounts a day in life with Haring in 1980. This included painting for more than 12 hours, a stop at Paradise Garage, "Larry the Van," Quaaludes, "The Punch," Voguing, dancing until the 9am ("the club closes at 9:30"), scheming to take three guys home, heading out to Coney Island, and more.