Rick Ordonez, also known as Atlas and known colloquially as the "kitty cat tagger," is an American

graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

and

graffiti artist Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in Graffito (archaeology), graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple writte ...

from

Alhambra, California Alhambra (, , ; from "Alhambra") is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, approximately east from the downtown Los Angeles civic center. It was incorporated on July 11, 190 ...

. In early 2010, Atlas transitioned from creating large ornate graphics to drawing stylized cat characters, particularly on or near

Pasadena Freeway Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

. In April, Andy "Midzt" Rios was wrongly arrested for tagging the cats. On June 30, Atlas was

arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be question ...

ed without incident at his home. He was charged with allegedly causing $15,000 in damages and faced up to 90 days in jail and 300 hours of

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...

. Ordonez was described as a “ cat-lover" who kept cats as pets. In an article for ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...

'', he was described as "a nerdy guy who draws cats." When asked why he drew cats, he simply replied "I love cats." Later that year, Atlas got his own show entitled "Rick Ordonez: Kitty Litter" at Mid-City Arts in November 2010. Gallery manager Medvin “Med” Sobio stated "I saw them and thought it was something completely different. Everybody’s out there doing big, bad graffiti things o show that'I’m a big, bad guy,’ and here he is, doing cats." Ordonez remained anonymous for the show. Atlas was part of the ESMoA art laboratory SCRATCH show in 2014.

References

External links

"ATLAS" INTERVIEW
(2018)
Atlas: Los Angeles Graffiti Documentary (2005)

Cat Tagger - Kitty Litter - Los Angeles Graffiti
American graffiti artists Artists from Los Angeles People from Alhambra, California Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Hispanic and Latino American artists Cats in art {{US-painter-stub

See also

References

External links