Modern art: Allen selfie ends up at Buffalo gallery

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — An art museum in Buffalo has immortalized Bills fans’ reaction to the team’s playoff-clinching win.

The Albright-Knox Art Gallery is closed while it undergoes an expansion, but it made an addition to its exhibits — a screenshot of a selfie Bills quarterback Josh Allen took with the fans waiting for the team at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport on Monday morning.

Bills fans Zach Kmitch and Ali Abbas just wanted a better angle as they stood among the crowd of fans welcoming the team back to town following its 17-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night.

So Abbas climbed atop the 6-foot-6 Kmitch’s shoulders, phone in hand, and began filming. The duo caught the attention of Allen, who reached through the fence, grabbed Abbas’ phone and took a picture with the group of excited fans.

Abbas posted the photo to Twitter, where it was liked more than 2,000 times. Stephie Wilson saw the photo and tagged Albright-Knox in a separate tweet, urging the gallery to frame the photo.

Her request was obliged.

Proof. #GoBills @BuffaloBills https://t.co/Cxj6LSDQZK pic.twitter.com/bMYYFdIOxI

— Albright-Knox (@AlbrightKnox) December 17, 2019

The gallery framed a screenshot of Wilson’s tweet and posted the proof Tuesday morning. Kmitch couldn’t believe it, sharing the update with anyone who would listen. He and Abbas vowed to go take a picture with the real thing when the gallery reopens in January.

The droves of fans waiting for the Bills’ plane to arrive made an impression on the team. Running back Frank Gore climbed out through the sunroof of his car to celebrate with fans, defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier called it a “great way to cap a terrific evening” and head coach Sean McDermott raved about the event during his Monday news conference.

“Where else does that happen? 2 a.m., 30-some degrees or maybe high-20s, on basically a work day, on the heels of a work day,” McDermott said. “It’s just awesome. Again, I think it’s unique to the Buffalo area and to our fan base, which it’s very much appreciated.”

It wasn’t a work night, but rather a school night for the Erie Community College student Abbas, who had a presentation and three exams beginning at 8 a.m. Monday morning.

Abbas tried showing his professor the pictures in hopes of getting out of the presentation; it didn’t work, but the experience alone was worth the fatigue the next day.

“The atmosphere was unreal, everybody was hugging each other and signing alone with random people,” Abbas wrote to ESPN. “It was a very surreal experience for not just me but the whole Bills mafia, definitely in top 5 nights of my life.”

The 21-year-old Kmitch said he, Abbas and two other friends didn’t hesitate when the idea arose to greet the Bills at the airport, and that he felt an immediate connection to the fans around him braving the cold.

“Bills mafia, it’s really a family. I only knew three of the people there, but you just felt like you knew everyone around you,” Kmitch wrote. “Everyone was celebrating with each other, it was just so pure, for a lack of a better term. It was almost like greeting your loved ones back from overseas, in a sense.

“In that moment, the players and coaches on that charter were our heroes and were able to lift a city up on a pedestal we haven’t seen in 20 years.”