In the universe of Joan Cornellà, everything is hilariously wrong. His characters smile while performing horrific acts, amputate limbs as if they were gummy candies, and face the tragedies of modern life with a lightness that is as unsettling as it is irresistible. Following the Catalan artist on Instagram—where he has millions of followers—one quickly realizes that his world is as comedic as it is disturbing, as colorful as it is nihilistic.

Cornellà has developed his unique style by mixing flat illustration, pastel palettes, and sharp black humor. Each cartoon is a micro-universe where logic is flipped upside down, absurdity replaces common sense, and every detail is designed to unsettle. And yet, it’s impossible not to laugh, even if that laugh often catches in your throat.

The themes he addresses are universal and contemporary: obsession with social media, alienation, the superficiality of human nature. He does this with a visual clarity that needs no words. Just smiling faces, extreme gestures, and a heavy dose of sarcasm.

Behind his 1950s cartoon aesthetic hides a fierce critique of modern society. Cornellà isn’t trying to shock just for the sake of it: he wants to show us how accustomed we already are to absurdity. In a way, his cartoons function like a warped mirror: they make us laugh, yes, but they also make us think—and maybe, in the end, they make us a little uncomfortable.

If art is meant to make us feel something, Joan Cornellà succeeds. Even when that “something” is a bitter laugh.