Javier Mariscal

JAVIER MARISCAL (Valencia, 1950).
"Playful dog". Barcelona, 1989.
Oil on canvas.
Signed, dated and located on the back.
Measurements: 75 x 170 cm; 78 x 173 cm (frame).

This painting by Javier Mariscal, made in 1989, is a vibrant expression of his particular visual universe, where everyday life is transformed into a playful and spontaneous scene. In the composition, a dog, from the ceramic edge, leans towards some red fish swimming in the water of a pond, in an attempt to play with them or reach them with his paw. The dynamism of the gesture, almost cartoonish, reinforces the carefree tone of the scene. The geraniums lined up on the white border of the pool provide an organic and colorful counterpoint, framing the whole with a Mediterranean freshness that is a constant in Mariscal's work. His naïf style, with simplified strokes and flat colors, is evident in the way he synthesizes forms, prioritizing expressiveness over realism. The pictorial production of Cobi's creator maintains the same traits as his graphic design: a colorful sensibility, an energetic stroke and an air of naivety that is, in reality, a sophisticated exploration of visual simplicity.

A renowned industrial designer, cartoonist and comic artist, Javier Mariscal has lived and worked in Barcelona since 1970. He studied design at the Elisava School in Barcelona, but soon abandoned his studies to learn directly from his surroundings and follow his own creative impulses. He began his career in the world of underground comics in publications such as "El Rrollo Enmascarado" or "Star", along with Farry, Nazario and Pepichek. After making his first own comics in the mid-seventies, in 1979 he designed the Bar Cel Ona logo, a work for which he began to be known by the general public. The following year the Dúplex opened in Valencia, the first bar signed by Mariscal, together with Fernando Salas, for which he designed one of his most famous pieces, the Dúplex stool, a true icon of design in the eighties both inside and outside our borders. In 1981 his work as a furniture designer led him to participate in the exhibition of the Memphis Group in Milan. In 1987 he exhibited at the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris and participated in the Documenta in Kassel. Two years later his design Cobi is chosen as the mascot for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, controversial at first but now recognized as the most profitable mascot in the history of the modern Games. In 1989 he created Estudio Mariscal and collaborated on various projects with designers and architects such as Arata Isozaki, Alfredo Arribas, Fernando Salas, Fernando Amat and Pepe Cortés. Among his most outstanding works are the visual identities for the Swedish Socialist Party, the Onda Cero radio station, the Barcelona Zoo, the University of Valencia, the Lighthouse design and architecture center in Glasgow, the GranShip cultural center in Japan, and the London post-production company Framestore. In 1999 he received the National Design Prize, awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Industry and the BCD Foundation in recognition of his entire professional career.