STEVEN STALLINGS CARDENAS / Pan Para Mí

October 7, 2020 – January 22, 2021

“I learned sourdough bread making from a respectable book. My first month as a baker was really difficult because my dough would over-proof in my hot Los Angeles apartment. Over the course of a year, my bread began to look and taste pretty good. It wasn’t until recently that I started questioning the idea of European “artisanry,” specifically in the world of baking. In response, I made videos, photographs, and sculptures that showcase fragments of my baking process, while recognizing my Colombian heritage through colors, rhythms, and dancing. The bread I make is Colombian American sourdough bread.

Header image: Video Still, Steven Stallings Cardenas

Pan Para Mí continues my exploration of what it means to be Colombian-American. What does a Colombian-American aesthetic look like? What is an “authentic” Colombian-American work and experience? I’m inspired by my visits to Boyacá, Colombia, an area where regional hand-made objects are created, sold, and presented everywhere one looks. This show serves as a homage to my abuela’s birthplace as well as a critique of Eurocentric ideals implicit in the term artisan. This word is used to describe hand-made objects and food made with traditional, European techniques to approach “perfection.” The slowness required to learn artisan techniques and make art objects is often reserved for the privileged who, in the contemporary world, are often viewed as modern mystics. I prefer to view myself as a worker privileged enough to make art.”  -Steven Stallings Cardenas

About the Artist

Steven Stallings Cardenas is a Colombian American artist, filmmaker, and musician from Provo, Utah. He graduated with a BFA in Studio Art from Brigham Young University with an emphasis in New Genres. He has had solo shows at Washer/Dryer Projects and BYU’s Gallery 303 and was in a group exhibition at PAL gallery. Steven is currently living in Portland, Oregon. www.steven-stallings.com / @stevenscardenas