LA II is a Graffiti and Pop artist born Angel Ortiz in New York City’s Lower East Side neighborhood. His career began in 1980 at the age of 13, when he met the artist Keith Haring. From 1981 until 1984, Ortiz collaborated with Haring on a number of projects. Together they painted walls, sculptures, objects, rooms, and trains with graffiti. Ortiz would fill in the spaces between Haring’s lines with his unique style that is often described as a mixture of contemporary symbols and Asian calligraphy. They had many exhibitions together at galleries in the United States and Europe, the first being at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in 1982. After his work with Haring ended, he continued to make his own artwork, which was unfortunately often overshadowed by Haring’s fame. In recent years, he has been fighting to make his past and current work more well-known, famously tagging his name in a restored Haring outdoor mural without permission in 2008. He is still living in New York and continues to create graffiti art.
