Fall River Artist Creates $20,000 Barstool Sports Masterpiece

Whether celebrities are filming in the city or admiring the works of locals through the power of social media, Fall River has most certainly been a staple on the Hollywood map.

Rene (pronounced "Rain-E") Gagnon, an art teacher at Durfee High School in Fall River, constructed an artistic portrait of Barstool Sports "El Presidente" David Portnoy in hopes to help raise money to add to the already-$20 million Barstool Fund that will help aid small businesses who are getting crushed by this pandemic.

Little did Gagnon know that his painting would be worth $20,000 when it hit the auction table, making it a new record for the most profitable piece he's ever created. This morning, he joined Michael and Maddie to discuss his latest and selfless accomplishment that will help keep small businesses afloat.

"The painting is part of my 'Jagged Tears of Hollywood' series of paintings," Gagnon said. "I've been a big fan of Dave's for four or five years now and he's reaching such a celebrity status that I wanted to immortalize him in one of my paintings."

So just how well did that painting do? With a little help from Portnoy, I'd say it went well.

"I was already going to do the painting and when I found out that he was doing this charity to help the businesses, artists over the years- that's how we give back to charity by auctioning paintings for different organizations," Gagnon said. "I had posted the painting on Twitter and Dave took notice, commented on it, and found out I was doing the auction and because he did that a lot of interest was generated from it."

The bid started at $1,000 and grew to $20,000 within a couple of days.

"It's pretty amazing, I would have been happy if I only got a few hundred bucks for the painting and donated that myself, but because he put that nod in, a lot of people not only gained interests in the painting but also into my work. It was a win-win situation," Gagnon said.

Gagnon ended up selling the painting to a group of buyers for $20,000 and Portnoy acknowledged it on his personal Twitter account.

"I've never sold a painting for that much money so this is a record for me. I know a lot of people wish they can give back and one of the ways I can give back with my art, art is my currency," Gagnon said. "To be able to contribute in such a significant way is really humbling."

Now that he's completed one feat for the love of humanity, I asked him what his next project was going to be moving forward.

"There are 10 different projects going on in my studio at any given day," he said with a laugh. "As an artist, it's about the legacy, we're here to just keep creating art regardless if we're selling it or showing it, and to keep putting tangible pieces of fine art into the world to enjoy."