'Enough': Bay Area artist's work to grace cover of Time magazine

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KTVU) - The work of a Bay Area artist will grace the cover of Time magazine for a second time when it hits the news stands on Friday. The subject this time is gun violence.

John Mavroudis, the artist, grew up in San Jose.  He says gun violence is something that touches him. 
He wants his work to inspire people to think about the many lives gun violence has affected.

"It's kind of like a jigsaw puzzle.  You're putting pieces together and seeing how they fit," said Mavroudis. 

It started with the word "enough." Mavroudis built the names of all the cities in the United States that have experienced a mass shooting this year.  The standard used was incidents where four or more people were injured or killed, not including the shooter. 

There were a total of 253 cities. 

"You realize it cuts across blue states and red states," said Mavroudis. 

The  recent mass shootings in Gilroy, Dayton and El Paso are featured more prominently as are the larger incidents such as South Bend and Virginia Beach.  

"There are moments when something really hits me," said the artist.  He says it gave him pause when he came upon his hometown of San Jose and other Bay Area cities. 

"You write in places you know or  where you've been.  You think about the people involved," said Mavroudis. "How many people it's affected. Yeah, it gets difficult sometimes."   

The first time Mavroudis's work graced the cover of Time magazine  was last fall when he used phrases to create a portrait of Christine Blasey Ford.  She accused then-U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Cavanaugh of sexual assault.  

The artist says his work reflects his interest in politics and concerns about  gun violence. 

"What this cover does is bring into focus how many places are actually involved," said Mavroudis. 

He says the names of cities filled up the page easily and there's still four months left of 2019. 
Mavroudis said the outrage is fleeting while the division over gun control lasting.

He hopes his artwork on the cover of Time Magazine will help unite people. 

"It's not like this anywhere else in the world so hopefully they see that and come together on something we can agree on and how to make this country a little bit safer," said Mavroudis. 

He showed KTVU other examples of his work on gun violence, including drawings after the Parkland shootings. 

Mavroudis said he speaks through his artwork. He says  if he stays silent, he becomes part of the problem.