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A series of three illustrations. The first shows a person climbing a giant roll of toilet paper with text that reads “In my dream I was climbing up a roll of premium extra soft toilet paper that was about to break.” The second shows a person with a black cat draped over their face, captioned “My cat doesn’t like it at all when I put him on my face and pretend to be Batman”. The third shows a person in a checked blazer standing next to a miniature horse, with text reading “It was great while it lasted but I think it is time to find a bigger horse”.

Art: Javier Mayoral's oddly seductive cartoons

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Date
28 November 2013

It’s difficult to do more than open a website today before you’re faced with a semi-hilarious internet meme, but Javier Mayoral’s small surrealist paintings are easily the best of them all. The artist, who has received no formal training, paints in his spare time when he’s not working as a chef – a fact that makes the sheer quantity of work that he has produced astounding. Over the last three years he has made around 4,600 of these pieces, usually painting at least five a day, which he then sells on eBay.

The absurd images range from scantilly clad women bending over next to captions about Hollandaise sauce recipes to men playing Batman with cats on their heads, and often feature the German singer Heino or Conservative politician Helmut Kohl, though nobody really knows why. Still, when a portfolio is as full of work as this one is the ins and outs cease to be important; so long as Javier continues to paint his absurd, hilarious masterpieces, we will continue to enjoy them.

An illustration of a person hanging upside down by their ankles from a rope. Below them, a small glass of orange liquid sits on a blue surface. Text to the right reads “Even if I managed to reach that glass of delicious orange soda I wouldn’t be able to drink it”.
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Javier Mayoral: Cartoon

An illustration of two shirtless people in swim trunks carrying a person in a red polka-dot swimsuit on their shoulders. Text at the top reads “THE TWO GENTS CARRYING ME ARE DEFINITELY STRONGER AND BETTER LOOKING THAN MY HUSBAND”.
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Javier Mayoral: Cartoon

An illustration of a person wearing a black cat over their face like a mask. Text at the top reads “MY CAT DOESN’T LIKE IT AT ALL WHEN I PUT HIM ON MY FACE AND PRETEND TO BE BATMAN”.
Above

Javier Mayoral: Cartoon

An illustration of a person in a blue T-shirt and red shorts climbing up a giant roll of toilet paper. Text below reads, “In my dream I was climbing up a roll of premium extra soft toilet paper that was about to break.”
Above

Javier Mayoral: Cartoon

An illustration of a person in a grey checked blazer and glasses standing behind a tiny black horse. Text at the top reads “IT WAS GREAT WHILE IT LASTED BUT I THINK IT IS TIME TO FIND A BIGGER HORSE”.
Above

Javier Mayoral: Cartoon

An illustration of a person in a blue coat surrounded by dozens of identical rubber heads with blonde hair and black glasses. Text at the top reads “Giuseppe Prandelly from Grand Rapids, Michigan, has the largest collection of Heind rubber heads anywhere in the United States.”
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Javier Mayoral: Cartoon

An illustration of three people standing side by side, wearing matching red sleeveless tops, peach skirts and blue bobbed wigs. They each wear black knee pads and black high heels. Text at the top reads “Our blue hair and the black knee pads help us differentiating our act from similar American pop girl groups”.
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Javier Mayoral: Cartoon

A painting of three people styled as the Holy Family, each with a halo and a red heart on their chest. Text at the top reads “The Andersons like to dress like the Holy Family all year round in their home town of Boise, Idaho”.
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Javier Mayoral: Cartoon

An illustration of a person with short black hair sitting in a chair, pulling on a tall black boot. Text above them reads “It is getting increasingly difficult for Charles to dress as a woman and look passable with his five o’clock shadow”.
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Javier Mayoral: Cartoon

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About the Author

Maisie Skidmore

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Maisie joined It’s Nice That fresh out of university in the summer of 2013 as an intern before joining full time as an Assistant Editor. Maisie left It’s Nice That in July 2015.

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