Freeport Artist unveils Walt ‘Clyde’ Frazier’s portrait at MSG

The local street artist Poor Rupert was at center court of Madison Square Garden in late October, along with officials from the New York Knicks and MSG Network, to present his painting to Knicks legend Walt “Clyde” Frazier.

In September, Frazier became the first person to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a broadcaster.

To honor him, the Knicks and the MSG Network commissioned a one-of-a-kind painting by Poor Rupert, titled “Twice is Nice.”

“I was in a haze on the court, and really nervous, but when I got to meet him in person, it was amazing,” said Poor Rupert, 41, who also goes by Chris Gandiello. “As soon as he walked in the door, he knew my name, complimented me on my work, and we started signing the prints.”

Poor Rupert, who is originally from Baldwin but now lives in Freeport, created a four-foot by five-foot acrylic painting of Frazier on birch wood panel to honor him and raise money for the Garden of Dreams Foundation — a nonprofit that works with MSG Entertainment and MSG Sports to bring life-changing opportunities to young people in need — and the Walt Frazier Youth Foundation — a nonprofit focused on making sports programs available to children in low-income communities.

“I wanted to create a portrait in my style,” Poor Rupert said. “I used graffiti techniques I’ve learned along the way and really had fun with the piece. To get the opportunity to paint for a living for a New York City legend was really special to me.”

Fans can purchase a limited-edition 24-inch by 36-inch print of the painting, signed by both Frazier and Poor Rupert. There are 110 prints available on HandBid.com and CharityBuzz.com. All money raised will be split between the Garden of Dreams and Walt Frazier Youth foundations.

Poor Rupert graduated from Baldwin High School in 1998 and attended the School of Visual Arts New York City, a private art school in Manhattan. He didn’t make the most of his education, he said, because he spent much of those years running around the city, exploring the graffiti and street art scenes.

He bounced around the boroughs, and eventually moved to Freeport in 2020. He came back to Long Island from Queens, he said, because he was concerned about his mother, who lived alone. He did her shopping and ran other errands.

Before Poor Rupert became a full-time artist, he worked in the hospitality industry while creating art works part time. His art career took off in 2018, when he shared his work online and his social media accounts became more popular.

Since then he has been able to create art installations for several businesses.

Andrew Affa, owner of Mission Taco in Huntington, commissioned Poor Rupert to paint a seven-foot by 40-foot mural in the main dining room of the restaurant before it opened in 2019.

“I was excited, and a little nervous, I had never done something that size by myself before,” Poor Rupert said. “Eventually I came up with a sketch, and they loved it. Even when he [Affa] saw it halfway done, he loved it so much, he had me do the whole restaurant.”

He painted other walls at Mission Taco, including the hallways to the restrooms, the restroom doors and the logo behind the bar.

“Andrew [Affa] told me they weren’t even going to put wallpaper up,” Poor Rupert said. “Instead they asked me to paint textures on the walls around the bar, and I did, and kept going.”

After painting at Mission Taco, his social media accounts received increased traffic and he received emails from curious patrons.

“It’s funny because that Mission Taco mural seemed to resonate with people from MSG Network,” he said. “He was having dinner with his daughter, (and) they both couldn’t stop staring at my mural. This motivated him to get in touch with me.”

The MSG Network executive contacted Poor Rupert in September, and scheduled an interview to discuss the possibility of creating a portrait of Frazier. When he heard the idea, Poor Rupert immediately knew he wanted to focus on the style of the basketball legend.

“That’s what’s unique to the Knicks,” he said. “No other organization has ‘Clyde’ Frazier. Immediately I thought, there’s so much I can do with the colors and movement.”

Poor Rupert said he was initially excited about the project because it would give him the opportunity to meet Frazier and benefit charity. He said the opportunity to meet one of his idols, while creating art for charity was a compelling reason to accept the job.