In 2012, noted scholar and art collector, Gordon W. Bailey, a champion of du Plenty's artistry, gifted a number of his superb portraits depicting boxers and entertainers to the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, GA in honor of the founding members of R.E.M., Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry. Bailey encouraged the museum to pay tribute to du Plenty and following his lead the museum organized the exhibition "Boxers and Backbeats: Tomata du Plenty and the West Coast Punk Scene" which ran from October 2014 until January 2015. The museum's pre-exhibition promotional efforts came to the attention of Carlos Iglesias, a founder of The Remainder Is Productions, and Helen Clarke. In the spring of 2014, Iglesias and Clarke, in close association with a number of du Plenty's friends and collaborators, staged the multi-media event "Big Hair: The Life and Times of Tomata du Plenty" at Art Share Los Angeles.