The Art of the Snub : Ceremony: Former taggers who painted a mural are saluted, but not the convicted forger behind the project.

Convicted art forger and former art world high-roller Tony Tetro says he can’t understand why he was snubbed by Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block last week when the nationally known copyist was left out of a mural dedication ceremony in South El Monte.

The exacting duplicator of works by Marc Chagall, Joan Miro, Norman Rockwell and Salvador Dali was ordered to paint traffic safety murals as part of a sentence handed down in April after he pleaded no contest to conspiracy, attempted theft and six counts of art forgery.

The South El Monte mural, on a block wall surrounding an auto-wrecking business, was the sixth produced by Tetro with the help of young people. His other murals are at Hollywood High School.

In South El Monte, Tetro said he spent more than $500 of his own money to board over part of the bumpy, grooved wall for the mural. He said he continued painting even after his sentence ended because he believes in the project and in the young former taggers who helped him.

Nonetheless, Block remained unimpressed. Although Tetro’s name was mentioned during the short ceremony, the artist was intentionally not invited, the sheriff said.

“Five years’ probation means he’s a convicted felon,” Block said. “This was not a day to aggrandize someone involved in criminal behavior, but to focus on young people.”

The snub may be hard for Tetro to understand because, despite the plea in court, the Claremont resident does not consider himself a criminal.

Tetro, 43, got rich selling watercolor and lithographic copies of internationally known artists. His earnings brought him a Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit, two Ferraris, a Lamborghini Countach and trips to Paris, Rome and Monte Carlo.

When arrested in August, 1989, he insisted that his customers knew his works were copies. He said he had no idea his dealer was illegally selling them as originals.

But after a mistrial was declared in June, 1991, Tetro agreed to plead no contest rather than face a second trial. He was placed on five years’ probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service with the Office of Traffic Safety.

That’s how the former globe-trotting duplicator ended up on a busy Rosemead Boulevard intersection mixing paints, buffeted by passing big rigs, overseeing a crew of ex-taggers and sharing fish tacos with them at a restaurant down the street.

It was at the restaurant that Tetro said he learned a few days before the press conference that everyone but him was invited.

Because he fears violating his probation, the copyist spoke reluctantly, but expressed disappointment.

Still, it’s not as if Tetro has gone unrecognized during his community service stint. A national cable news show featured his murals at Hollywood High, a film deal on his life is in the offing and his friends threw him two snazzy parties when his community service time ended. Heaps of Italian food at an Upland delicatessen drew more than 200 people, including judges and attorneys, both times, he said.

But Wednesday’s press conference was a moment of glory for the ex-taggers who took turns posing next to the sheriff with certificates of appreciation.

“I think the individuals who deserve most of the credit are the four young men who did most of the work,” Block said.

Ex-tagger Luis Vogel, 18, said the project enabled him to gain skills that he now thinks he can use to create more murals for the city of South El Monte and involve even more youths. A number of enthusiastic passersby wanted murals done for them, he said.

As for Tetro, Vogel praised his instructor and said it was a shame Tetro wasn’t invited. But then he waxed almost philosophical about the exclusion.

“I was kind of upset they didn’t let him come over here,” Vogel said. “But then again, you can’t have everything you want.”