BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | To hear artist Angel Ortiz and his supporters tell it, the Haring Foundation has tried to obscure the significance of his collaborations in the 1980s with the late Keith Haring.
It’s been an ongoing battle for Ortiz over decades to keep the importance of his contributions to Haring’s art from being blurred out of the picture. There have even been rumors he recently sued over the dispute, though the foundation vigorously denies it, and points out there is no record of such litigation.
One thing is clear, however. Angel Ortiz, 49, a.k.a. LA II is now in some serious trouble with the law. He is facing a slew of charges — including two felonies, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon — plus menacing and petit larceny, in connection with a night of bizarre behavior in the East Village.
Ortiz’s alleged actions on Tues., June 28, are almost as loopy as the paths of his trademark graffiti infill squiggles in Haring’s famed artworks.
According to police, on Tues., June 28, at 10:20 p.m., Ortiz, who lives on E. 11th St. near Avenue B, approached a man sitting at a sidewalk table at The Smith restaurant, at 55 E. Third Ave., between E. 10th and 11th Sts. He swiped the unsuspecting diner’s Samsung Galaxy Edge cell phone from the table. The owner told police he tried to grab it back, but Ortiz pulled the flashy phone out of the guy’s hands and walked away.
The phone owner followed Ortiz for a half a block along Third Ave., then attempted to get his Galaxy back again, grabbing Ortiz’s hand. But the graffiti legend reportedly refused to let go of the device, and shoved the man away, while “screaming and yelling” at the man, the victim told police.
Ortiz then reportedly ended the struggle — by abruptly spiking the Samsung on the sidewalk.
“I am informed by the [victim] that he observed the defendant smash his cell phone on the ground causing screen to shatter,” Police Officer Redmond Halpern of the Ninth Precinct said, according to the criminal complaint filed by the Manhattan district attorney.
Unfortunately, the mayhem didn’t end there. Ortiz then allegedly entered a second eatery, at the southwest corner of E. 14th St. and Third Ave., grabbed a razor-sharp knife, and started menacing people along E. 14th St.
“I am informed by an employee of 5 Napkin Burger…that she observed a shirtless Spanish [sic] male, of small stature, with a Tattoo on his chest…at 10:25 p.m….grab a steak knife and walk out of the restaurant,” Officer Halpern stated.
A second man told the cop that at 10:25 p.m. Ortiz then advanced toward him “while holding a steak knife yelling and screaming at him causing [him] to fear for his safety.”
A third man told Halpern a similar story, that he was at the southeast corner of Third Ave. and E. 14th St. at 10:35 p.m., when “a shirtless Spanish male, of small stature, with a Tattoo on his chest” advanced on him while holding the knife, again “screaming and yelling” and making him fear for his safety.
The officer said when he responded to the scene at 10:50 p.m., he saw Ortiz at the northeast corner of Second Ave. and E. 14th St., shirtless and “gripping a steak knife in his right hand.” Ortiz subsequently dropped the knife on the pavement and another officer recovered it, Halpern said.
Ortiz was indicted by a grand jury on seven charges on July 18. After three weeks behind bars, he was released July 20 after posting bail. The D.A. requested $40,000 bail, but it was set at $15,000.
Ortiz’s next criminal court date is Aug. 23. Since his top charge is a “D” nonviolent felony, he faces from two-and-one-third to seven years in jail.
The June 28 arrest was first reported by DNAinfo, which noted that Ortiz was also carrying a piece of fruit along with the knife — a detail not in police reports. However, the news outlet did not identify Ortiz as the famed graffiti artist LA II.
Ortiz does have a pretty lengthy rap sheet, though it seemed he was cleaning up his act as he matured. His last bust was a pretty innocuous one, in March 2011, when police caught him tagging his “LA II” and “LA ROC” monikers on top of existing murals, including the Joe Strummer one outside Niagara bar, at E. Seventh St. and Avenue A, and a Kenny Scharf mural on the “Graffiti Wall,” on E. Houston St. by the Bowery. In 2003, Ortiz was collared for pot possession. Between 1987 and 2002, he had at least nine other arrests.
It was not immediately clear who bailed out Ortiz — whether he raised the money himself, or someone helped him.
Lawrence Fine Art, with galleries in Los Angeles and East Hampton, currently represents Ortiz, and showed some of his new work, including graffitied mannequins and canvases, during Art Hamptons in June.
Howard Shapiro, the gallery’s owner, when asked if he had helped bail out Ortiz, only said, “You’ve got to ask them — him and Ramona,” referring to Ortiz’s girlfriend, who helps run his East Village gallery. Ortiz could not immediately be reached for comment.
Clayton Patterson, the Lower East Side documentarian, had championed Ortiz, wanting to help him get his due for his work with Haring. This latest arrest comes as a big disappointment for him. He said he previously had a falling out with Ortiz over a cat painting he thought the artist had given him, only to have Ortiz demand it back so he could sell it.
“It’s sad to see him doing so much damage to himself,” Patterson said. “Because it’s clear to me he was an integral part of the making of Keith Haring. To get caught up in this stupidity is just sad. I had tremendous faith in his ability, but he burned my bridge, too.”
In the past, a wild incident like this might just have been dismissed as “an artist being an artist,” Patterson noted. “But that’s not how it is nowadays,” he said. “Not at all.”
