Knicks Celebration Overshadowed by Plagiarism Accusation Against Devon Rodriguez
As New York prepared for a possible Knicks ticker-tape parade, a dispute over two paintings of fans outside Madison Square Garden pulled attention in a different direction. Brooklyn-based artist and designer Gavin Snider says Devon Rodriguez, the TikTok star known for subway sketches, copied his recent work — and that one of the disputed images was later sold online before being deleted.
Snider said he was hired in May by the Knicks’ marketing agency to paint a scene outside MSG marking the team’s first NBA Finals appearance in 25 years. The painting appeared on the Knicks’ social channels before Game 1 and again after the team’s win. Then, Snider said, a friend alerted him to Rodriguez’s Instagram, where a work for sale looked “identical” to his own. He also said another post matched a separate Knicks painting he had made earlier.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Snider argued that the similarities were too specific to be accidental. He said his composition was built from 67 reference images, Google Street View, screenshots from Instagram Reels, and photographs from watch parties across New York City. The details, he wrote, were carefully placed: a waving flag, a foam finger, a hot dog cart, a billboard. Rodriguez’s version, Snider said, felt “uncanny, almost traced,” with only small changes and “an unearthly glow.”
An image of the disputed work, published by Artnet News from a screenshot of Rodriguez’s June 13 Instagram post, shows a striking resemblance between the two paintings, including the jerseys worn by fans in the foreground — retired star Carmelo Anthony and current Knicks centerpiece Jalen Brunson — and the Knicks jackets on either side. Rodriguez’s post has since been deleted, and he has not publicly responded to the accusation.
Snider also said he might have stayed quiet if not for the gap in reach between the two artists. He said he has about 37,000 followers on social media, while Rodriguez has more than 9 million.
Rodriguez rose to prominence in 2020 with TikTok videos of him sketching commuters on the New York City Subway, often gifting the drawings to his subjects and filming their reactions. He later signed with United Talent Agency and mounted a solo show, “Underground,” at UTA Artist Space in Chelsea in 2023. UTA closed its fine arts division the following year, and Rodriguez has not announced a follow-up exhibition.
The dispute now sits at the intersection of social media fame, commercial art, and authorship — a familiar fault line in a market where an image can travel faster than its maker can defend it.
