John Mavroudis

John Mavroudis has created three TIME covers, including the 2018 typographic portrait of Christine Blasey Ford which was awarded the American Society of Magazine Editors’ Cover Of The Year. Mavroudis invited Marcos Sorensen and Isabel Samaras to TIMEPieces.

 

Artist Statement

Title: Better Angels

My first thought when reading the words “Building a Better Future” was our current struggle to maintain the most basic right of a democracy: The Vote. We cannot have a “Better Future” without the input and participation of our fellow citizens. Far too many have suffered, and far too many have died for that right. We cannot have a “Better Future” without it.

Against a backdrop of a John Lewis quote on the importance of the vote, is a winged-hand rising above enslavement, subjugation, and oppression to make a choice that most of us take for granted. The unblinking eye represents what has been seen in the past and what can be realized in the future: the fulfillment of John Lewis’ Dream.

I’m continuously inspired by those that stand in line for ten hours to cast a vote.

I’m continuously ashamed that a country that should be the very symbol of democracy would allow those conditions to be visited on a targeted group of our fellow citizens.

We ALL should want a better future for our society.

Asking our fellow Americans to join us as partners to create one is the ONLY way forward to achieving that goal. We need to awaken the better angels in all of us for this critical moment in history.

 

About the Artist

John Mavroudis has created dozens of posters for the historic Fillmore series, the Moonalice series, and artwork for his favorite baseball team (San Francisco Giants) and basketball team (Golden State Warriors). Passionate about politics, books, film, travel, sports, and music, John lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his daughter, Athena. He has co-created three New Yorker covers, one of which was also named Cover of the Year. He recently won the Los Angeles Press Club National Arts & Entertainment Cover Of The Year award for his typographic portrait of Joan Didion for Alta Magazine.

@zenpop | @jpmavroudis

View on OpenSea here.

Contact us at letters@time.com.