Anyone who has lived in the city of València over the last forty years will easily recognise as their own the big-nosed, googly-eyed characters that can be found in every corner of the capital. From the advertising of an institutional campaign to the signs of a garage in the city centre, the drawings of Ortifus (Antonio Ortiz Fuster, València, 1948) are present to the point of becoming part of the Valencian popular imaginary. Neither the city nor its history can be understood without the vignettes that have accompanied us daily since 1981, when he began to publish in the pages of the Spanish journal Diario de Valencia, punctual and loyal to his public to the extent of continuing when this headline closed to become Noticias al Día and, finally, to become an indissoluble part of the newspaper Levante-EMV, where the graphic humour of this cartoonist has been present for the longest part. His popularity as a notary of the city’s current affairs was consolidated by word of mouth, by hand to hand, by the “have you seen today’s Ortifus?” said with a smile and a wink for the undoubtedly correctness of his criticism of Valencian politics. Little by little, the figure of Ortifus became a daily accomplice, a familiar presence loved and accepted by all, including politicians of all political ideologies, knowing that his darts hit the bull’s eye, whether they were liked or not. Ortifus cartoons tell a parallel story of the city of Turia, far from the pro-government one and close to the one that is told in the street, the one that shares the wit and grace of the pensat i fet, direct and with humour as the only authorised weapon. His puns and visual metaphors are now part of popular humour, while his caricatures of the Valencian political figures have replaced real memories in our minds.
It was only natural that, so deeply rooted in Valencian humour, Ortifus would also be part of the world of Fallas. Las Fallas are part of the city’s DNA and the Valencian artist showed that his simple figures and sharp humour could easily be translated to the monuments that invade the Levantine capital every year in March. First in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, and then in Blanquerías or Na Jordana, with fallas that not only revolutionised the language of Las Fallas art, but also remained engraved in the memory of those who were lucky enough to witness those ephemeral works of art. Almost 30 year later, “la falla de las camas” or “la falla de los bancos” are still admired and remembered as splendid examples of Las Fallas humour.
A musician by professional vocation, a cartoonist by devotion, Ortifus is in his own right one of the references of Valencian popular culture. It will always be impossible to give an overview of his work, since it is impossible to select from his prolific output and, above all, because, as he would say in his vignettes, the world “overview” does not allow us to define the importance and extent of this presence in the everyday lives of Valencian people. That is why we open the doors of an Ortifurama, a sample of Valencian history and reality through the eyes of a unique and exceptional cartoonist, who is an indispensable part of our lives as citizens of this city.
