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Keith Haring Mural "Modified" by Former Collaborator?
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 30, 2008
Modified Jul 31, 2008
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 30, 2008
Modified Jul 31, 2008
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Before photo by Dick Stracke, after photo by WallKandy.
From the inbox: “Hasn't anyone noticed that the Haring memorial mural on Bowery and Houston was ‘modified’ last Tuesday with some painted on additions? The interesting thing here is that the man behind the ‘modifications’ is none other than LA II, a long lost collaborator of Haring’s who's a graffiti artist from the lower east side. Years ago, he claimed that the Haring Foundation basically robbed him of the work he did with Haring. Now he's back to reclaim his legacy the only way he knows how. This is a fucking story!”
So be it. For background, Colin Moynihan wrote an article for the Voice in 2002 about LA II’s beef with the Haring estate. If we got screwed over the way he did, you can bet we’d be drawing more than just lines all over that mural. Yeah, there'd be pee-pees and wee-wees all over that wall.
UPDATE:New York Press has more on the mural modification: "Is Ortiz to Haring what Basquiat was to Warhol? History has yet to confirm. 'Keith is dead, but LAII is alive and maintaining,' explained Clayton Patterson, who was on the scene with Ortiz to document the event. 'So we took over the wall today. It’s a long story…but they hooked it up.'"
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collaborator
keith haring
LA II
modified
mural
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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