Hulis Mavruk (Born 4 July, 1952) is a painter who was born in Southern Turkey. He specializes in painting black people and their cultures. Hulis Mavruk started professional painting at the tender age of 6. His works have received acclaim from several quarters, including art critics. Although he has made a breakthrough in mainstream arts industry, he managed to do so without any formal arts education to precede his professional career. By simply teaching himself and learning by observation, he has become a respectable painter whose artwork is exhibited in different locations across the globe. At some point in his career, Mavruk owned a gallery in Incirlik Air Force Base in Turkey, close to the Mediterranean Sea. Because of the location and the people he often interacted with, his gallery mainly had paintings of American officers. While there, Mavruk made contacts with several black airmen and service officers, making portraits of them. And that’s how he got inspired into painting black people.
In 1972, he moved to the United States where he began making paintings of mainly African Americans, their cultures, and things that define them. His main goal was to create images that would inspire African Americans to be proud of the African heritage and follow in the footsteps of their leaders. Mavruk’s paintings also captured renowned African American figures such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., African American women, Buffalo Soldiers, and a host of other subjects. His insistence on using black people in his paintings is also evident even when he’s painting Bible scenes. Mavruk is currently running H&M Gallery, which he founded in 1973 and is based in New York City.
