ABOUT MATRE GALLERY

Matre Gallery is the home base for Rob Matre’s dual career as gallery owner and artist. Opening in Atlanta in 1995, the gallery has earned a reputation for showing bold and vibrant works by local and national artists. Many of today’s top artists in the Atlanta and southern region got their start at the gallery, including Steve Penley, Cedric Smith, Tracy Sharp, Mark Boomershine and Evan Jones, among many others.

Over the last few years, the gallery has transitioned to focusing mostly on Matre’s own mixed-media paintings and photographs. Representing a roster of artists and hosting monthly exhibitions has been on hiatus the last couple of year, but should resume this year. The gallery is located in the historic Brookwood Exchange building on Peachtree Street, where Buckhead meets Midtown

ABOUT PLAID COLUMNS

Along with Matre Gallery, the name Plaid Columns is often associated with Rob Matre’s art career.

The unique moniker began as band name in the early 90s. Rob Matre formed a band called Heavans To Betsy with friends Steve Penley and Lars Helstrom, playing shows around Atlanta and Athens. They eventually learned there was another band of the same name on the west coast that was starting to make a name for itself. So Matre came up with the name Plaid Columns as a new name for the band. However, once Steve Penley’s art career began to take off at Rob Matre’s gallery, their music careers effectively ended, and the band never performed or recorded under the Plaid Columns.

But the name would live on…

In the late 2000’s, Plaid Columns was used for the name of a series of color photographs and mixed-mediate paintings that were a departure from Matre’s usual black & white images. In 2013, he had the idea to invite fellow artists to collaborate on a series of mixed-media painting for an exhibition. The first artist he worked with was Evan Jones, a young artist already represented by Matre Gallery. Their collaborations were an immediate hit, and Matre called off the search for other artists. More fun than calling themselves “Rob & Evan”, they made paintings under the name “Plaid Columns” for many years.

Nowadays the name Plaid Columns mainly refers to the name of the studio where Matre makes his paintings, although many people still refer to his paintings as Plaids Columns. There is good chance that the name will continue to evolve.