Javier Mariscal

JAVIER MARISCAL (Valencia, 1950).
“Chincheta and Julia,” 1982.
Ink on paper.
Titled and dated on the bottom.
Measurements: 26 x 21 cm.

This drawing belongs to a pivotal period in the development of Javier Mariscal’s visual language, closely linked to the underground comic scene and his collaboration with *El Víbora*. During those years, through *Los Garriris*, he developed short stories rooted in everyday life, humor, and a deliberately spontaneous line; Chincheta is among the documented characters in this universe. This domestic scene epitomizes his ability to transform a simple situation into an immediate, expressive image brimming with tenderness, achieved through a remarkable economy of means. Mariscal’s own official biography highlights his time at *El Víbora* as decisive for the consolidation of the graphic techniques that would later define his work.

Javier Mariscal began his career in the countercultural Barcelona of the 1970s, contributing to publications such as *El Rrollo enmascarado*, *Star*, and *El Víbora*, before expanding his work into graphic design, furniture design, illustration, and interior design. As the creator of Cobi, the mascot of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, he received the National Design Award in 1999. His work is represented, among other institutions, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, while the Lafuente Archive preserves an extensive collection of originals and publications from his early graphic period.