Artist John Mavroudis has a personal mantra: “doomed to care,” a sentiment that staying silent in these perilous times is simply not an acceptable option.
Gathering history and biographical details for portraits in his signature style, Mavroudis is documenting American history as it unfolds. Conveying images that hold a cautionary tale, his work is a form of activism.
“I don’t simply want to record what’s happening but also share definite opinions. And I’ve never been particularly shy about expressing my opinions,” Mavroudis told 48hills.
He began experimenting with typography as a means to create portraits years ago, by overlaying type blocks to form images, which he first styled for some music posters. After doing two magazine covers for The Nation—the Obama Inauguration and the U.S./Abu Ghraib torture scandal—the idea for using the technique for news covers led to a seminal moment in his career.
“I had never thought to use what I eventually termed ‘typographic portraits’ until the election campaign of 2016. I remember being alarmed about Donald Trump’s rise to power through the GOP. I would argue with friends about how bad he was. Most of my arguments fell on deaf ears. I then decided to make a list of every word I could think of to describe him. I took that list and eventually created a portrait,” Mavroudis said.
After sending the illustration around to various agencies, The Nation picked it up for their election issue in October 2016. While that piece took him months to finish, Mavroudis has since perfected the technique to achieve much faster results.
“I received a lot of feedback (mostly positive) for that one. Later I would take that style and create other works, including a portrait of Hilary Clinton that I submitted to The New Yorker and TIME magazine,” he said.
Though they didn’t use that illustration, in 2018 Mavroudis got an email from TIME about doing a portrait of Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford for their cover. Her courageous testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee had riveted the nation and TIME wanted him to construct a portrait of her, based on that testimony.
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“Problem was, I only had a few days to do it. Fueled by coffee and the possibility of doing a cover for such a historic magazine, I managed to finish it in time. I’ve never before received so much feedback on a piece. I got a ton of emails and social media attention, as well as the traditional press,” he said
The image was created by using a MacBook Pro and a Wacom Tablet, his original set-up. Mavroudis started with a black digital canvas, then applied ink brush painting, light on dark. The piece went on to win the 2018 magazine “Cover of the Year” award from the American Society of Magazine Editors.
Primarily self-taught, Mavroudis used to trace comic books as a kid and things pretty much snowballed from there. Working in a variety of media, including pencil, pen and ink, scratchboard, and acrylics, almost 100% of his commercial work is done digitally now using an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and either Adobe Fresco (a vector-based application) or ProCreate (pixel-based).
Growing up in the Bay Area, Mavroudis was born on the Peninsula and raised in San Jose. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was in middle school and he went to high school and did some college studies there before returning to the Bay Area. Mavroudis has lived all over the region, from San Francisco, Mountain View, San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, Petaluma, Novato, to where he currently resides near Brentwood.
“I live in the far reaches of Eastern Contra Costa County, which I’m not thrilled about. It’s too disconnected from the thriving art scene in Oakland and San Francisco. I love the Bay Area but it’s tough because of the cost of living. If I could, I’d love to be based in San Francisco again, having previously lived in the Western Addition, the Inner Richmond, and lower Knob Hill, but it’s not doable at the moment,” he said.
Mavroudis says he definitely feels a sense of pride in being from here and will always have a place in his heart for the local creative community.
“Painters, illustrators, poster artists, and designers! LOTS of talent here and a remarkable history. But we’ve also lost a lot of artists because of the cost of living. I’m hoping for another Golden Age… but currently, it’s not looking so great,” he added.
Inspiration came early on for Mavroudis with a family who regularly engaged in debates, political and otherwise, on various topics.
“I remember my Greek relatives’ passionate critiques of what was happening in the United States and I’ve pretty much stayed engaged,” he said.
Early artistic influences came from comic book artists Jim Starlin, Jack Kirby, Ted McKeever, and Jim Steranko. Mavroudis says their work was not just an enticement to draw but to make art that tells a story, integrating philosophy, morality, and drama. He also found motivation in an artistic uncle.
“I gravitated towards art that told amazing stories, instead of simple punch-ups. Later, I became enthralled with artists like Magritte, Goya, Doré, and Lempicka. I was also a huge fan of the works of the Stenberg Brothers in Russia. Their film posters were absolutely astounding. I also loved political cartoonists like Thomas Nast, Louis Raemaeker, Paul Conrad, Ralph Steadman, Ronald Searle, Ron Cobb, and so many more. They were all brilliant,” Mavroudis said.
He says he also owes a big debt of gratitude to the San Francisco poster artists of the 1960s, in particular, the Fillmore series that captured and preserved a piece of local history.
“I’m proud to have created so many posters for that venue and it’s ironic that my work there was so different from what I’m doing now, because my current style of typographic portraiture was influenced by that work. I do it a little different than they did but the germ of that idea is certainly contained there,” he said.
Mavroudis says that the best thing about the way he works is that anywhere can be his studio, as he shares a bit about the evolution of his workday with 48hills.
“In the past, I’d pack my computer and Wacom tablet and I’d head to a coffee shop to draw. You could probably find me at any one of a dozen coffee shops around San Francisco—on Clement in the Inner Richmond, Divisadero in the Western Addition, Haight Street, Valencia, or Columbus—and I’d be at a table with a coffee, working on concepts or ideas to submit to magazines. For every idea that was successfully placed, there were probably 100 ideas that never found a home. Not an optimal way to work, but such is the life of a freelance artist,” he said.
Nowadays, Mavroudis primarily works from home (raising a daughter, he says, will ground you), but he still ventures out to coffee shops to do work occasionally.
“The best time is when you have the concept down and can just play music and draw away. Before that moment, though, there’s usually a lot of research and tinkering,” Mavroudis said.
His work has gradually changed over time, in part by branching out across various topics enough to maintain an interest in creating his typographic portraits.
“They can become a bit tedious to do, so I try to mix up the subject matter and also come up with ideas that don’t involve that technique. When I have nothing in particular due, I often just draw portraits of people that don’t exist. The creation process brings me a sense of joy, so I’m always drawing as much as I can,” he said.
Pivotal moments in his career include a portrait of Harvey Milk—made up of over 120 LGBTQ figures from throughout history—and work he’s done for local sports teams, the San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors (Mavroudis is a huge sports fan), and his work for film festivals such as the SF Greek Festival, the 60th Anniversary Thessaloniki International Film Festival, and the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival.
“I hope to do more film poster work for festivals. Great experiences all around. It was especially gratifying to be flown to Greece to see how they blanketed Thessaloniki with my poster artwork. Being Greek, that meant a lot to me, but on top of that I fell in love with that beautiful city,” he said.
Mavroudis is completely steeped in current events in this country and believes that artists have a particular responsibility to speak out and commit to full engagement.
“Throughout history, artists have documented horrible events, brought comfort to the oppressed or urgency to a slumbering public. Any fair viewing of the Civil Rights Movement will show you that the struggle is never over. We can’t do it all, but we can all do some small part to make this a better world. There is no doubt that the Trump administration is a moral and civic catastrophe for this nation. I try to keep up as best I can and to use my art to fight against this fascist threat to our democracy,” Mavroudis said.
He’s been busy working on a series of portraits of Civil Rights figures, a series of portraits of children killed in the Holocaust, and children killed in Gaza. It’s not light material but he says he feels a need to do it. The subject matter of Mavroudis’s work does veer from the modern political landscape to historic figures in music, civil rights, books, and film, in order to keep a healthy balance.
“Sometimes people refer to me as an ‘Art Activist’ which I don’t mind, even though I also do non-political art. I’m creating portraits for my Songwriter Series and just finished Stephen Sondheim, Kate Bush, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, and David Bowie. I’m also interested in starting a series of famous authors.
“I’m also exploring doing some uniform design work for my favorite sports teams (the Giants and the Arsenal football club). I’ve seen a lot of alternative jerseys that I’m not crazy about, so I’m just doing them and will submit them when I’m feeling good enough about the prototype. I’m trying to incorporate a sense of history, as well as what I would love to see as a fan,” he said.
Through a sharp dedication to making meaningful work, John Mavroudis hopes that his contribution and voice as an artist will help in some small way to tip the balance away from fascism, bigotry, homophobia, sexism, and xenophobia.
“I’m trying to help alleviate this desperate situation our nation finds itself in. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has grown really tired of this march toward stupidity and hate,” he said. “I hope my work will inspire people to get involved. I want my work to be appreciated, but even if it’s not I still need to get it out. Support artists, if you can. It is so very much appreciated in these times. And stay engaged. Just showing up can be an impactful act.”
For more information, visit his website at zenpop.com and on Instagram.
