Let’s Go Knicks!

It’s three days after Knicks in Five and the skies over New York City are still orange and blue. Fans may be back at work and school, but don’t be fooled: They’re floating through life. Inside the Harlem studio of Tom Sanford ’98, the artist is giddy with plan-making. His stylized player portraits will adorn the street sweepers at the ticker-tape parade on June 18, and he’s hatching a surprise for his 13-year-old son — a trip to City Hall for the ceremony gifting the Keys to the City to Jalen Brunson and the other Madison Square Garden heroes.

For the man who calls himself “the unofficial artist of the Knicks,” the ceremony will be the culmination of a ride that began in April, when Mayor Zohran Mamdani asked if he could install Sanford’s most recent work — giant painted wood cutouts of iconic Knickerbockers throughout history — at City Hall for the playoffs. Or, you could say the ride began in 1999, when Sanford did his first Knicks painting, of center Patrick Ewing. (“I thought of him as my Aeneas — this proud warrior for NYC,” Sanford says.) You could even say the ride began in high school, when Sanford would pretend to do his homework while watching his beloved team on the tube.

However you frame it, Sanford is having the time of his life: “It’s been magical,” he says.

He’s in the midst of his career’s second act — an eclectic oeuvre that includes work from murals in bars and restaurants to T-shirt designs. He’s a proud New Yorker and lifelong basketball fan. “I’ve always loved spring here,” he says. “The winters can be so trying. And then there’s a moment, normally in late April, when the Knicks are in the playoffs and that whole spring excitement and palpable energy that the city has is amplified. It’s just a lot of fun. Brings the city together.”

Sanford grew up in Bronxville aside from eight “formative” years in London; his family returned stateside when he was 12. As a teenager he loved to draw, even if he didn’t especially stand out for his skill: “I was the guy who made the caricature for the newspaper or did funny send-up drawings of teachers,” he says. He followed in the family tradition by going to the College — ties include his grandfather William B. Sanford Sr. CC 1930, and his father, Tom Sanford CC’68, BUS’72. Though Sanford thought he’d pursue finance, his passion for art won out; he credits visual arts professor Archie Rand for persuading him that it could be more than a hobby.

The early part of Sanford’s career was spent as “an art world kind of artist.” He gained traction in the aughts, exhibiting in galleries in the United States and Europe. He often detailed his fandom of hip-hop and gangster rap, with an emphasis on Tupac Shakur (his 2004 project “TomPAC” became something of a lightning rod for press, critics and the Tupac faithful). But when the market crashed in 2008, Sanford took a step back and positioned himself outside the crucible of gallery shows, deal making and auctions. Today, he favors creating NYC-centric art for businesses where it will be visible to the public.

Even before his Mamdani moment, Sanford was popular around Knicks Nation. He frequently collaborates on merchandise with graphic designer Steve Dilakian of Bocker Back Pages; the pair create imagery that puts a pop culture twist on storylines that unfold during the NBA season. (Sanford in fact answered the door in one of the tees, with Karl-Anthony Towns as the caped crusader Katman.) His Cap’n Clutch shirt — a take on the classic kids’ cereal with Brunson on the orange box — is perhaps his most well-known.

“It’s such a thrill to see people in it,” Sanford says. “I’ll be watching a game and people in the front row or wherever will have it on. For Game 5 I had people over for a watch party and I was walking back home with a bunch of pizzas, and some kid shouts at me, ‘Yo, I got that T-shirt!’

“I love that so much,” he adds. “That’s the best thing about being an artist — when people react to your work.”

The Knicks art that caught Mamdani’s attention had its genesis earlier in the year, when Sanford and Dilakian were asked to art direct a concert and fundraiser for Food Bank for NYC. Sanford decided to realize an idea he’d been considering for a while: acrylic-painted wood cutouts of what was essentially his all-star starting lineup — Brunson and Ewing plus Carmelo Anthony, Larry Johnson, Latrell Sprewell and sixth man John Starks. The form was inspired by the plywood characters he would see on the Upper West Side during his College years. “They’d be in front of the bagel shops, delis and pizza places,” Sanford says. “The one I remember vividly was in front of Pronto Pizza, on the corner of 114th and Broadway. I remembered thinking they were this wonderful kind of NYC vernacular, like a kind of folk art.”

A few days before the fundraiser, Sanford put the figures out on the sidewalk near his home. They attracted a crowd; photos went up on Instagram — and Mamdani hit the like button. Soon, Sanford was on the phone with City Hall. His one condition for letting them borrow his art? That his daughter could meet the mayor. (She goes to Frank Sinatra School of the Arts H.S. in Astoria, he explains, which was previously Mamdani’s polling site — making him an extra-big celebrity among the students.)

“The mayor was so sweet, asking her about school and what she does,” Sanford says. “It was all an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. Just the thrill of a lifetime.”

Looking ahead, Sanford has several commissions in the works, including an outdoor public art piece for The Hispanic Society Museum & Library (“one of the city’s greatest artistic treasures”). It’s his first solo museum show, made all the more special for its location in his neighborhood. He’s creating a scene of Harlem summer street life. The colorful cutouts lay in various stages of completion around his studio: a flock of pigeons; a man with a shaved ice stand; an abuela with her shopping cart. There’s also a jazz performer, domino players, and kids biking and playing.

Sanford says his work has “a kind of garish energy” that suits the city. “My great inspiration is New York,” he says. “I am lucky to have found the right place for me.”