The self-taught painter and sculptor Stelios Mavromatis was born in Ptolemaida, Kozani in 1930 and passed away in Thessaloniki in 2020.
He began painting during high school. He worked in Thessaloniki as a private sector employee.
His subject matter varies (landscape, nude, still life), focusing primarily on trains and railway stations due to his residence near the Thessaloniki railway station area, featuring impressionistic tendencies, Pop Art formulations, expressionistic elements, and calligraphic types. During his first period (1956–1966), he depicted shipyards, still lifes, crucifixions, bouzouki players, portraits, nudes, and, from 1962, trains, with strong abstract tendencies. Later (1966–1981), he focused on trains, marked by a decline in abstraction and realistic formulations intensified by the addition of applied structural elements, evoking a sense of loneliness and departure. In the subsequent phase, he turned to expressionism, expanded his color palette, and added symbols. He also painted landscapes following his travels to Amsterdam (1978), Santorini (1979), Venice (1980 and 1986), and Skyros (1981).
From 1956 onwards, he held solo exhibitions in Thessaloniki, Athens, Rhodes, Kilkis, Nonnweiler, and Cologne, and participated in group exhibitions in Thessaloniki, Athens, Volos, Heraklion, Nicosia, Bucharest, Stuttgart, Monte Carlo, Baghdad, New York, among others. He also participated in exhibitions at Dinos Christianopoulos’s “Diagonios” Little Art Gallery (a solo exhibition in 1976 and 43 group exhibitions between 1974–1978 and 1984–1985), where he also served as an artistic advisor (1974–1978).