Cárdenas's work constitutes an outstanding achievement of Colombian sculpture in recent times. His work delves into our relationship with reality and appeals to everything that is susceptible to becoming form: line, color, volume and texture. His clearest intention is to objectify the line, in the sense of giving concrete body to the two-dimensional. Likewise, it constitutes the fundamental means of his creation, and it is thanks to this that he manages to create the planes, volumes, shapes and spaces that he articulates through precise structural calculations.

His pieces are built with metal rods, wire and welding, materials that reiterate the concept of non-stable sculpture, however, on certain occasions he has given way to more ethereal and lighter forms that allow the observer to appreciate and traverse them visually. In this way, Cárdenas transforms the materiality of the elements with which he works: what is rigid by nature achieves organic movement; what is heavy gives the impression of lightness; and what is rough, acquires a smooth texture. In those works made with polyurethane hose and plastic strap, the degree of lightness and transparency is multiplied and the line is transformed into a more dynamic composition that, in most cases, refers us to organic elements such as bird nests, clouds, mangroves or wetlands.

Nature has always been the reason for his artistic reflections. Although a certain figurative will is transversal to his work, his taste for abstraction and the desire to give priority to form prevail. They are works that incite curiosity about their interior and content, thus stimulating the imagination and guiding it towards infinite possibilities. The majority are open structures, achieved by the sum of different rectangular modules oriented with apparent randomness, but distributed with such care that space and light complement each other. Likewise, the shadows and brightness that are projected onto itself and the surrounding areas enrich and extend the work horizontally or vertically, giving it the impression that it can grow indefinitely.

“I try to represent the way the Impressionists painted: through free and spontaneous action. I have countless pieces of different colors, shapes and sizes, which allow me to take them and place them in different ways, to finally create the sculptural work instinctively”, sates Cárdenas