GALLERY5X7 welcomes Alex Mavromaras to our community of artists and collectors! We are excited to feature a number of Alex’s beautiful hand-printed toned cyanotypes on vellum, etched and painted over with drawing and watercolor pencils, for purchase. These beautiful alternative process prints are wonderful additions to our gallery portfolio.
Artist Bio
Inspired by the Greek Impressionists, Alex Mavromaras explores the rural Athenian landscapes as they blend in with historic town centers and archeological sites of Classical and Byzantine Greece. Alex holds a BA in Film & Visual Arts and an MSc in Information Technology. He started his career as a film crew member, documenting Byzantine Hagiography in the Monasteries of Mount Athos, in Northern Greece. Taking a 15 year break away from photography, Alex moved to the IT industry working as a Project Manager, witnessing firsthand the speed computer technology can render almost anything obsolete at the blink of an eye. During this period, he studied the work of 19th century Greek photographers (Philip Margarites, Petro Moraitis and particularly Spyro Milionis’ “ferroprussiate prints”) and early examples of “chromophotographs,” painted-over photographs, which contained an artistic element produced by hand. Evolving through his passion in the history of 19th century Greek photography, Alex extended his talent further into alternative printing techniques, experimenting with cyanotypes, gumoil and oil-printing. Self-taught, honing his alternative photography skills since 2007, he is presently dedicated to the creation of painted-over cyanotypes on translucent vellum.
“Working with 62g vellum is challenging. A cyanotype print has to go through an ‘abusive’ workflow cycle, where vellum is developed, toned, bleached and dried before being painted-over; steps which inevitably push this delicate material to its structural limits. When things work, the process chemistry takes over and puts the “strokes” in for me, while bleaching creates the necessary space, so I can add my ‘palette.’ I begin painting-over the sky, emulating the wet-on-wet watercolor technique and then take on the main subject and surrounding details. Using drawing pencils, I create a subtle base color and finish up with watercolors adding depth and contrast. The result is as close as creativity and skill let me get to “chromophotography” of the 19th century.”
Alex Mavromaras
Alex Mavromaras has lived in Egypt, Germany and the UK, and since 2004 has resided permanently in Athens, Greece. His work consists of one-of-a-kind cyanotypes on paper, glass and vellum as well as gumoil prints and oil-prints, exhibited in several Athenian and Greek island galleries.
GALLERY5X7 offers several of Alex’s original prints in signed, limited edition.
View Alex Mavromaras’ currently available prints for purchase.
GALLERY5X7 is dedicated to connecting artists with a collecting community by creating a trusted channel to market handcrafted alternative process photography. Are you interested in submitting your work to GALLERY5X7 for possible representation? Perhaps you are a collector of alternative process photography and want to be alerted to new artists and print offerings? Learn more about the benefits of representation by GALLERY5X7 to both creators and collectors.
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