Meet Pablo Cuen

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

Pablo , so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.

There’s no one way to do it, for me it’s all about curiosity. There’s a certain pulse or routine that we all as humans experience as we navigate through life, whether it’s going to school or going to work, everything seems to fall into a routine, and then we all experience monotony and boredom.
A way to fight against this sensation is to stay curious; that has made me more aware of people, the space that I’m in, the light of day, thoughts, etc. Everything changes every day, and sometimes the monotony in our lives makes us foresee the magic that exists in our everyday lives and the ability to be impactful toward one another.
The truth is that there’s so much to learn and so many things to listen to, art to see, movies to watch that the only thought of exploring those options is inspiring. Sometimes an artist, a movie or a book can change the way we experience and perceive the world and ourselves; that, in itself, can change our lives. I’ve learned so much through the eyes and thoughts of all the great artists I like, that it inspires me to create and use whatever I have available to express a thought an idea or emotion.
For me, taking every day as a new opportunity to learn something new about the world we live in, has helped me to stay in touch with my creativity.

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?

I’m a L.A based, multi-disciplinary artists, born in Guanajuato, Mexico.
As many artists in the world, I was always fascinated with this city (Los Angeles) and the endless possibilities that the Hollywood industry was sharing all over the world. When I was nine, I expressed the idea of wanting to become an actor. I was living in Spain and started taking acting and painting lessons throughout my formative years. The idea of moving to this town was exciting but we were so far away that it was only an idea. Years later I moved back to Mexico where I kept exploring scenic arts, literature, drawing and painting.

I must say that I was not always able to attend all the things I wanted to, sometimes I wasn’t selected for certain programs, or I couldn’t afford to buy certain art materials— that never stopped me from exploring. If I had a camera, I tried to do something with it, if someone gave me a set of acrylics or pencils, I would explore the mediums until I had no more. And so on.

I was born in a household of ballet and flamenco dancers, musicians, writers and painters, so any form of art was always encouraged, unless we were not fulfilling the expectations at school— which I wasn’t, so on many occasions I missed out on opportunities.

In my twenties I moved to Mexico City where I studied acting at Casazul, Artes Escenicas Argos. I was there, at the age of 27, when the Stella Adler Art of Acting Studio opened auditions in Mexico City. I received one of the slots to assist the professional conservatory. Here I kept exploring acting, literature, painting and more.

Recently on September 7th, I had my first art show in Los Angeles in collaboration with Amy Zapata called “Esta tierra que somos” a space where we explored and shared our experiences, the way we see the world and explore our mediums. There was painting, photography, sculpture, and special music performances by Josh Wallace and Luci P Rez. Overall, my need is to keep collaborating with creatives in Los Angeles to maybe one day inspire others, the same way as others have inspired me.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Never take life for granted.
Stay curious.
Always question everything.

Life can change at any time, life itself has shown me that. Sometimes we lose everything, and have to re-build from the ground. Life can be terrifying sometimes, and uncertain, the only certainty we have is that we are all going to experience life and death. We can choose to fill our days with fear or curiosity, if the ultimate end is death, we must explore the possibilities of life, with courage and love, we have to learn to be generous and reconnect with the other, stay curious about the other. Theater has shown me that the answer and the connection is always in the other.
Sometimes the best way to improve is to question all the ideas, thoughts and systems that we live in, sometimes we bump into dead ends, and sometimes we find the answers that we were looking for.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

My sister and I were raised by a single mother and she’s always been an example of resilience, love, generosity and dedication. In a country like Mexico, surrounded by machismo, bias, and religious judgements from society, being a single parent seemed like a recipe for disaster; instead she proved them wrong, setting an example for us and setting the bar very high for the rest of my family— being the only one to have obtained a PhD. She always challenged herself and fought against every possible obstacle to ensure our well-being. She’s both a mother and a father, a teacher, guide and her life testimony is always an inspiration.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @pablocuen

Image Credits

Alex Garcia