Everybody
has a gift
Photo by Ferco Kol
Angel Ortiz (1966) grew up in Alphabet City’s Baruch Projects during one of New York’s hardest decades. He found identity and purpose through graffiti crews like BTW (Born To Write) and TNS (The Non-Stoppers), communities that shaped both his voice and his survival.
Within that world, he adopted his street name LA2, also written as LA II, short for Little Angel 2. What began as a tag became a lasting visual signature rooted in street culture.
At fourteen, Angel entered a six-year collaboration with Keith Haring, their distinct styles merging into a shared visual language that carried his street-born line work onto a global stage and helped define an era.
Even as his work found its way into galleries and museums, Angel never stopped painting outside. He creates wherever, whenever. For him, making art is a form of therapy. He works by instinct, and only the canvas tells him when it has enough.
Today, Angel still lives and works in New York City, grounded in his Puerto Rican roots. His art grows from lived experience, but the goal is simple: to create work that people can connect with and enjoy.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Angel Ortiz, Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf (Photographed by Andy Warhol in 1984)
