Vakirtzis considered himself, first and foremost, a craftsman and viewed his occupation with the painted Giant cinema poster and the lithograph advertising cinema poster professionally and calmly⁵

This was a popular kind of art without any requirements beyond hard work and quick decisions and was based on experience. The presence of Vakirtzis transformed it into a kind of social mural painting giving birth to a unique “school”, the advance of which was abruptly cut short because of the crisis that hit Greek cinema theatres in the 70’s. His abilities helped him create a personal universe of experimentations, which functioned in a purely descriptive context, and went often beyond any given boundaries.

Today, the majority of his preserved works belong to museum collections⁶, thus enabling an objective study. Apart from their image as independent works of art, they also preserve a certain power of imposition which only Vakirtzis was able to give through his compositions.
His professionalism and his career dedication was life itself to the painter⁷. This is evident in his numerous of drawings of every kind, as well as in his texts written in the form of notes that inspire energy and strength⁸. Vakirtzis believed in the social use of the Giant poster and quickly realised that both the public and the artists accepted his initiatives with enthusiasm⁹.His stark, realistic vocabulary resonated with the urban public, even when he himself consciously altered the facts. He transformed a popular genre into an urban milestone, creating a new level of reception sealed with his own imprint.

He trusted the primary ideological power of the popular image adding to it a dimension beyond its informative function. This image was created for common view, directed towards an unprepared audience and imposed by volume alone. The resulting work made a lasting impression and prompted discussions beyond the initial effect.
Vakirtzis quickly created a mythological pantheon, which he orchestrated himself by preparing it every Saturday evening, and put it to common view without prejudice. His audience was huge and unpredictable. The quality of his work created such a sensation that it transformed the initially indifferent audience to an eager receiver of his work when it appeared on cinema façades every Monday morning. The fact that his work attracted this kind of attention unconsciously led him to formulate his work by making breakthrough choices. He gradually incorporated more elements from his personal artistic vocabulary, which were rapidly transformed and blended with any given demands, producing imaginative solutions to any problem that arose.

His bold recommendations in this kind of work have been at times characterized as having a close relationship to Pop Art¹⁰.
Yet, as it appears from his texts, general ideological stance and information he had access to, he does not seem aware of this movement spreading through Europe and America at the time. The solutions he proposes have a personal character (Fig. 12). One could trace a possible correspondence in his work, but not a conscious connection.
His never-ending quest through drawings, notes, models and his final abandonment of the painted Giant cinema poster in the middle of the 1960’s, mark the beginning of his career in painting (see pp. 53-54).
The painted Giant cinema poster makes up only a facet of the artist’s contribution to Greek art, since his overall painting style is characterized by a special, sensible virtue. Without a doubt, his unique way of handling this very demanding genre has not been surpassed since, making the artist’s greatest contribution to contemporary Greek art his work in the chapter entitled “Painted Giant cinema poster and cinema poster”.