ANGEL ORTIZ

Angel Ortiz should be recognized as one of the most important and successful Puerto Rican artists to emerge from the Lower East Side in the 20th century. Ortiz’s work, without attribution, is privately held, as well as featured in museum collections. His images appear in books and are licensed to products, again without his permission or knowledge. In other words, Ortiz has been consistently shunned by the art world. In 1982 at Keith’s and LA’s first high-profile show at Tony Shafrazi, the gallery cataloged it as a Keith Haring solo exhibition, although LA II had a number of pieces in the exhibition, again without credit.After Haring’s untimely death, the Whitney Museum of American Art curated a solo Keith Haring exhibition. Angel Ortiz went on the museum tour reviewing the installation. The group was standing in front of a Haring/LA II collaboration that was erroneously attributed solely to Keith Haring. LA asked, “Who is LA II?” The uneducated (or uninformed) museum guide answered: “A black artist who is dead.” However, Ortiz contradicted him, declaring to the group, “I am that person.” But, the Whitney tour guide did not let Ortiz continue; instead, he was promptly escorted out of museum.

-The Villager