By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
EAST VILLAGE — An artist who missed his own gallery show after getting busted for writing graffiti last month was released from jail Wednesday — and is already gearing up to get back to work.
Angel "LA II" Ortiz, who was arrested for vandalism on the eve of his gallery opening in the East Village and then nabbed again a couple weeks later for the same offense, pleaded guilty Wednesday to criminal mischief but was released after spending the past month on Rikers Island.
"I knew what I was expecting when I was writing graffiti," said Ortiz, 44, who was back to plotting his next — legitimate — art project less than 24 hours after leaving jail, including painting skateboards and T-shirts for riders at a local skate park.
"I'm guilty — I manned up and did my time," he said. "It's just a learning experience. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."
His release came despite the fact that a judge sentenced Ortiz to 45 days in jail Wednesday, including time served, even though he had only spent 31 of those days behind bars. The DA had pushed for a harsher, six-month sentence at his Wednesday appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court.
A Department of Correction spokesman said that since Ortiz had already served the minimum two-thirds of his sentence, he was released Wednesday for good behavior.
Ortiz got picked up for spray-painting his tag, "LA ROC," on a Second Avenue building on March 11, and then again on March 28 for the same offense on East 11th Street.
He explained that his emotions over the recent death of his wife led him to go on an indiscriminate tagging spree throughout the neighborhood.
"I took my frustration out on the street," he said. "I'm doing my art. I haven't done it for a long time."
Ortiz said his jail time meant he missed the bulk of his recent local gallery exhibition, as well as a lost chance to attend the opening of a large street-art show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles that featured his work.
Ortiz earned accolades as a teenager in the '80s for his creative collaborations with Keith Haring, helping influence the celebrated pop artist's style and traveling the world to show their work.
He said he won't be doing any more unauthorized work after getting pinched, but that even art-world superstars like Haring wound up in lockup for their work with a spray can.
"Keith did it," he said. "If Keith could do it, I could do it."
