Matt Letrs
February 2, 2022: Matt Letrs is a muralist, painter, sculptor, graffiti writer, mural broker, and designer. He was born in Ft. Lauderdale, FL in 1982. When Matt was 9, his family moved to Montreal where he spent many of his formative years. At age 12, inspired by a graffiti piece on the side of a bridge, the artist began painting an occasional railroad car for his own entertainment. Although he didn’t seek attention for his early work, art became Matt’s passion. As a high school senior making the transition to art school, Letrs expanded his outdoor painting interests to include murals. Matt lived in several cities including Miami, Kansas City, and New York, absorbing artistic influences from each. After permanently relocating to Atlanta in 2010, he decided to focus on his artwork.
In a 2018 VoyageATL interview, here’s how the artist described his work: “My murals and fine art are more narrative, seeking to explain or at least come to terms with the backwards insanity that is our present reality. The pressure, influences, glitches in the matrix, etc. Through this I’d like viewers to understand the truth – which is we are the masters of our own reality. My graffiti is the opposite. For me it’s a time spent with friends or just myself. Its therapy….and crack. It doesn’t have much meaning and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s simply a matter of style.”
In 2011, Letrs landed his first public art commission from Living Walls kicking off his professional art career. Here are some interesting tidbits from Mat’s artistic journey: In 2015, Letrs’ work became more sustainable when he began sourcing his paint from a non-profit organization called Global Paint which collects surplus and discarded paint from donors and puts it to good use by supplying it to underserved communities and local artists. In 2019, he was selected by Nike together with Fabian Williams to paint a major mural titled “Where Dreams are Made” at the Westside Cultural Arts Center for the Super Bowl. In 2020, the AJC picked Matt’s mural featuring Josef Martinez of Atlanta United Football club as the best mural in Atlanta with an overwhelming 63% of the vote. In addition to Living Walls, the artist has also painted murals for Forward Warrior, Art on the Beltline, Forward Warrior, Burning Bridges in Chattanooga, and Art Basel in Miami.
Letrs was the founder of All City Murals, a multi-service mural brokerage company in 2012 matching walls with sponsors and artists. Through his company, Matt has completed hundreds of murals of all sizes all over the US. Rebranded to Let’s Go Paint in 2020 Matt’s company expanded its offerings to include an on-line shop selling artwork and merchandise. Let’s Go Paint also donates several pro bono murals to support the community.
In the early months of the covid pandemic, a previously heavy workload dropped off. Letrs teamed up with Chris Wright (another local artist) to paint murals raising covid awareness in East Atlanta as a way to use their involuntary down-time for good until normalcy returned. Although these days, Matt is more focused on his more narrative work including fine art and murals, he still finds it therapeutic to occasionally throw up some graffiti just for fun.
Link to Matt Letrs’ website: https://letsgopaint.co/
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