Meet Juan Cardenas

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Juan Cardenas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Juan below.

Juan, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
My confidence grew little by little channeled through people who saw my potential and dedicated themselves to helping me or worried about me. Seeing people whom I admired help me, believe in me, in my work and in my art, little by little gave me the confidence necessary to express myself in a better way. Another factor was my knowledge, growing my own knowledge through books, experiences, attending concerts, plays, cinema, exhibitions, trips, and being able to share and discuss it with friends and people also involved in art, in culture or simply people eager and grateful for culture and knowledge, allowed me to believe in myself, to know that my opinions are valid, respectable, and to grow the courage to express them without proselytizing or dogmatic attempts, simply express what I think, what I feel , for the value of being authentic, respectful, honest and never evil.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
My career as an artist has not been a constant, as I have divided it along with a more practical professional career, equally valuable and passionate, but along different paths. However, I have known how to take them hand in hand, and be successful in both according to my standards. Currently as an artist I am interested in the rethinking of prejudices and immediate ideas. We live in a time where small statements are easy to follow and believe, even to support and adopt as our own, without going further by investigating or listening to other points of view. I believe and seek through my art the opportunity to stop, reconsider, rethink and reevaluate, and then move forward. One of my most recent projects follows this principle of deautomatization, a project in which I try to rethink preconceptions of beauty, but not to create new ones, but simply to not take them so seriously, nor give them a greater weight than they should have. The project: “All Eyes On Me” is an ongoing photo estudio accompanied by interviews and statements.
Beauty standards have always been determined by MEDIA. From early in History when these media were artistic pieces in streets, temples, and palaces, until today when individual social networks serve as media.
Objects of attraction are presented to us and consumed every day. Beauty, sexiness, attractiveness, desirability; Endless adjectives for professional models or those who want to just share their image on the web.
But how much of that is true? How much of what we share is essential to that person? Everything and nothing. Each one of us decides the percentage. However, when shared, that image is susceptible to the judgment, scrutiny, and sentence of the masses. They will decide too. Many times, models lack a voice, despite being authors. Many models end up being anonymous from their own images.
“All eyes on me” plays with this inevitable reality. Presenting strong intimate honest portraits as a parody, a contrast between the raw and the ridiculous. An awkward joke of sexy and attractive figures, with cartoon eyes that invite you to laugh.
The reality of these images is as much as any other, and at the same time it is absurd, since they say nothing about those who pose for the camera, and they should not grant the viewer any right to judge.
With this, I propose to reconsider our instinct to judge. Admiring an image without taking it so seriously, without giving it an unknown greater depth, without adjudge the model values that come from our morals and experiences.
At the same time, “All eyes on me” are pieces of art, therefore exposed from the moment of their publicity to criticism and conversation from those who stand in front of them.
“All eyes on me” is an introspective essay on the subjective of beauty and how it is objectively judged and exposed.
“All eyes on me” should be admired at the artist’s proposal as a fun, frugal, and light art exhibition.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three skills or knowledge that have helped me. Without a doubt the skill of listening, which I have worked a lot on in recent years. Listening opens the doors to the world, you can travel and see 50 countries or more, but if you don’t listen it won’t help you at all and basically you haven’t left your reality or your bubble. The skill of curiosity is another, seeing a closed door and wondering what’s behind it, but then going to open it, and go in and close it behind you. Many times the door will be closed, many times they will not allow you entry, other times you will find that there was nothing on the other side, but you would never know anything if you did not ask yourself, and you will continue on your path as before without having changed. And with that, the knowledge of knowing how little I know about the world, and how much I have to learn, still, today, every day. I don’t know anything, but I’m not afraid to know it, accept it, admit it, on the contrary, it gives me more confidence and motivation to continue learning and keeps me fresh, open-minded and hungry for more.
My advice is not to marry yourself permanently to any idea or principle. It is ready to evolve, to change direction, to move, to tear down idols and erect new ones, to admit in front of the mirror whatever it takes to continue improving and getting you closer to where you want to be and towards what you want to achieve as an artist.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
An art that I have gotten very close to is Burlesque, an art that I consider to be the most inclusive and the least judgmental. I have tried to do my part as a photographer and use what I see in Burlesque as motivation to create my own art, as a constant conversation, seeking fidelity and connectivity with the performer. Achieving that empathy is wonderful and allows you to achieve unique images. I am interested in continuing to work with burlesque producers and performers to continue learning more about the art and thus achieve better images, more faithful to how each of them wants or imagines themselves to look, and creating together, creating together at the same time is the most inclusive. that it can be and therefore very helpful, Something that I consider important in these times, to give space and exposure to all types of art. Anyone involved in Burlesque can contact me through my website or social media.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Photographer: Juan Cardenas @Desautomatas Model: Isabelle Marie @missisabellemarie

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Leadership Development
Empathy Unlocked: Understanding how to Develop Emotional Intelligence

“Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It’s the impetus

Productivity
Where do you get your work ethic from?

We’ve all heard the phrase “work hard, play hard,” but where does our work ethic

Productivity
Boosting Productivity Through Self-Care

When you have a never-ending to-do list it can feel irresponsible to engage in self-care,