Garage Fishtown was deciding what to do with their Matisse Thybulle mural. And then he tagged it.
The Sixers traded Matisse Thybulle to the Trail Blazers, so Garage Fishtown planned on replacing the mural of the shooting guard. That is, until he autographed it.
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Following the trade of Sixers guard Matisse Thybulle on Thursday, the folks at Garage Fishtown met to discuss what to do with the mural of him painted on the Frankford Avenue side of their building.
Maybe replace it with an Eagles mural, or another Sixers-themed design?
But then Thybulle tagged it.
“Thank you Philly,” Thybulle, who is going to the Portland Trail Blazers, wrote on the mural, adding his signature, Mat. T. Owner Jason Evenchik isn’t sure when it happened, but it must have been sometime after they closed Thursday.
While Evenchik and his partners are still undecided on a replacement, Thybulle’s autograph makes things a little more complicated. After all, how many (former) Philly sports stars have autographed a building?
“Today, it’s a different story,” Evenchik said.
Painted in March 2021 by local artist Jimmy Glossblack, the mural was done as part of a partnership between Red Bull and the Sixers. It shows Thybulle from the back, his arms outstretched, and his last name and Sixers number clearly visible on his jersey. And now, Thybulle’s thank you to Philly is spray-painted in white on its right side.
“It’s such a sweet comment, and the response has been pretty loving towards Matisse,” Evenchik said. “It was a nice little goodbye.”
Not to mention the Garage crew had no clue it was coming. Evenchik said he found out about the tag Friday morning when someone sent an Instagram video of the tag that Thybulle posted.
Evenchik said the Garage partners plan to take their time with what to paint next, and “not rush into it.” They may also put up a poll on social media asking for input.
“I think for the moment, we’re going to do nothing,” Evenchik said. “It’s just so cool.”
And if and when the mural does change, we still may see Thybulle’s signature on the building to keep the memory of the moment alive. Evenchik wasn’t totally put off by the idea of redoing the mural, but boxing out Thybulle’s signature.
“Like a Banksy,” he said.