Interview with cartoonist Giannis Geroulias

By: Talal Nayer

I met Giannis Geroulias for the first time during the 22nd edition of Lafisi, Levadia exhibition that orchestrated successfully by FECO Greece for years. Giannis Geroulias is the president of FECO Greece. I had a very interesting conversation with this polite man about art and politics when he was driving his car from the Athens International Airport to Lavyssio of Livadia where is FCO Greece is organizing their artistic event, but also where Giannis Geroulias had been born in 1962 to a Greek agricultural family.

 The car of Giannis Geroulias explains his lifestyle; technical types of equipment located near to cartoon books and drawings, he is an electro-technician in the morning, and a cartoonist in the night. Giannis belongs categorically to the (self-made artists) who slowly build-up their artistic career, without artistic pedagogical.  From the moment that Giannis started reading, he found the first materials for his experimental artic career (school books). He filled the margins of his school books and block-notes with funny figures and caricatures. Later on, then he moved to another level by trying to make caricatures of people too. Until he graduated

from school, my books were full of funny figures and cartoons, and it is the time for the young Greek man to find new spaces for his art. Giannis didn’t study art because, in his period, there were no schools, especially in the province where he was living. Giannis kept his passion for art, and he designed a realistic plan to reach his goals slowly but also with immutability: he started working as an electrician since 1987, but on the other facet of the coin there are other details, he was making cartoons in the local press, and sketches for events and friends. Giannis had influenced by many cartoonists, not so much about the technique of the drawing, but the way of thinking.

Giannis Geroulias

Giannis inspired more by the political news that is always intense in Greece, and sometimes the inspiration comes from social issues that they are a direct result of the political interactions. Giannis is drawing a cartoon in Greece where its first satirical prints appeared in the middle of the 19th century, and where there was an upward trend in the comic. Political cartoons were at the forefront of Public life; the printing press was rapidly evolving, and at the same time, illiteracy diminished.

After WWII a lot of magazines and newspapers appeared which allowed too many cartoonists to appear. “I can mention Polenakis, Bost, Kostas Mitropoulos, KYR, Archelaos, Vassilis Christodoulou, Kostas Vlachos, Giannis Ioannou, Giannis Kalaitzis and many others who have produced a huge cartoon the project”  said Giannis.

I had so many conversations about political issues with Giannis Geroulias, sometimes we had an agreement, and sometimes disagreements, but after any political debate between us I get sure about one idea; Giannis Geroulias is a committed person who dedicates himself to people, he thinks about the people, and he committed politically and socially to them. When he walks or driving his car, everybody in Lafisi, Levadia, smile to Giannis and greets him respectfully. I made a joke about him: (Why not you nominee yourself as the mayor of the city?). The response was a big smile.

Giannis Geroulias started to draw cartoons local newspaper "OVERVIEW for ten years; from 1987 until 1997, then he continued until 2015 in the local a newspaper called “VOIOTIKA NEA,” unfortunately, both newspapers no longer exist. In 2002, He worked for a short period with the Turkish newspaper CALLED “EKIP.”

Giannis Geroulias didn’t describe himself as a professional cartoonist, he prefers to label himself as “an amateur.” Giannis Geroulias have contacts with a group of cartoonists, locally and internationally, but his activities located mainly in the provincial press and many amateurs. Giannis and his group are trying to set up exhibitions at every possible opportunity, and Levadia exhibition is one of these events. Giannis Geroulias and his group are working to build a bridge between them and the International community of cartoonists.

                       

Giannis Geroulias is president of FECO GREECE LEVADIA, and this group – does not represent all Greek cartoonists. “Protestants, we are a group of amateurs, who in 2003 decided to join FECO to have contact with creators and clubs from around the globe,” said Giannis. “…by participating in the international exhibitions, we acquire sketchbooks, at the same time we acquire knowledge of the techniques of other creators and we know humor and reflection that exist in other countries.”

I asked Giannis about his opinion about freedom of speech and journalism, he thinks it exists in Greece with almost the same level as the rest of Europe, but he had feared that freedom of speech does not work as it should, because in Greece, as in most countries the media are owned by ship-owners and contractors, or in other words: non-professional journalists. “I personally have many doubts about the quality and objectivity of the information” Said Giannis.

                            

 An answer to his opinion about the artistic styles and drawings techniques, “If we talk about abstract art in general, I do not have the necessary knowledge to judge it. I like Netline (clear line) Sketches and especially those who are in the fight for the good of many.” Said Giannis, “I like the sketches and cartoons that focus on the environment, the social justice, and which is trying to illuminate the dark sides of the public’s life.”

The house of Giannis Geroulias is a big archive of music and art, there are drawings and books everywhere. He said: “I like cartoons because in a few words, or even without words, you can tell a lot of things. Art can communicate with people from different countries, art bridging languages, and cultures. I remember  - a few years ago -  a cartoon exhibition on an island in Greece, in that event thousands of visitors came from countless countries, people with different languages, all of them visited this the show and everyone smiled, this power is the cartoon, it can bring a big world smile.