For years, Angel Ortiz, a.k.a. Little Angel, a.k.a. LA II, has been fighting for recognition of his work as a collaborator with the late Keith Haring. The Lower East Side graffiti artist did the squiggle in-fills on many pieces by Haring, with his signature, artful “LA II” and LA ROCK” tags prominently featured. Yet his name is constantly omitted from gallery catalogues and books featuring works on which he teamed up with Haring. While those snubs have kept LA II from cashing in on his past work, now he’s got more immediate problems. The hard-knock Puerto Rican tagger showed up at Lower East Side documentarian Clayton Patterson’s Essex St. gallery/home over the weekend, soaking wet from the pouring rain, and was in bad shape. “He has been physically assaulted, robbed, forced out of his apartment and is homeless,” Patterson said. “His front bridge was taken and thrown away, and he suffered a cut lip as well as a black eye. All he was wearing was sweat pants, sneakers, no cell phone. The situation has become desperate and could end up tragic.”
