On display at the Westport River Gallery is an artistically painted golf bag by Angel Ortiz aka LA II, the artistic partner of the late internationally known artist Keith Haring. The iconic graffiti design, created and applied by Ortiz in 2020, reflects the art created by the Haring-Ortiz collaboration, many of which have sold for millions at all major auction houses. Shown here is Cory Crelan at the Westport River Gallery in front of artwork by V. Andriotis, who also took this photo.
The idea for the golf bag painting by Ortiz came from former golf professional Cory Crelan, who is a friend of Ortiz and resides locally in CT. The twenty-year-old McKenzie Walker golf bag is made of two tone black/red leather. “I reached out to Angel Ortiz aka LA2 with my idea of repurposing the bag as an art piece.”
LA II (Angel Ortiz) was born in 1967 in the Lower East Side of New York City and is also known for the artistic names of LA II, LA2 or LA Rock all of which stands for “Little Angel” and are seen throughout his artwork. Haring sought out the author of this LA2 graffiti tag that was widely seen throughout the Lower East Side. Being one of the most recognizable Graffiti artists from the Lower East Side in the 1980’s Ortiz collaborated side by side with Haring on over a thousand pieces after he dropped out of school in 1983. The pair traveled around the world collaborating on works until 1986.
LA II is for Haring what Jean-Michel Basquiat was for Andy Warhol. Today LA II is considered an iconic graffiti artist, being unearthed from the massive power of Keith Haring’s body of work. LA II’s role in Haring’s artistic development is clearly delineated by the unique and original look of their co-produced works. LA II has a very collaborative nature. He seeks out to work with other artists giving characterization of his unique calligraphic patterns and lines to each piece. If it is to be found the LA II, LA2, TNS, or LA Roc tag within a Haring artwork, then the piece was produced in collaboration effort between Haring and LA II.
Ortiz has worked with dozens of artists in the art market today. Some of these names include Richard Hambleton, UK based artist STIK, Mark Kostabi, and a number of street artists from the LES: Delta 2, Ero, and Cindy Shaoul. LA II's Urban Art style and graffiti heavily influenced Haring’s work.
Throughout his career, Haring devoted much of his time to public works, which often carried social messages. He produced more than 50 public artworks between 1982 and 1989, in dozens of cities around the world, many of which were created for charities, hospitals, children’s day care centers and orphanages. The now famous Crack is Wack mural of 1986 has become a landmark along New York’s FDR Drive. Other projects include; a mural created for the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in 1986, on which Haring worked with 900 children; a mural on the exterior of Necker Children’s Hospital in Paris, France in 1987; and a mural painted on the western side of the Berlin Wall three years before its fall.
Haring also held drawing workshops for children in schools and museums in New York, Amsterdam, London, Tokyo and Bordeaux, and produced imagery for many literacy programs and other public service campaigns.