Guest Post: Sergio Cuan

This week, I’m delighted to turn over the blog to Sergio Cuan. Sergio is one of my favorite bonsai artists. He also did all the sick illustrations in Bonsai Heresy. Since working on that project together, many have asked what Sergio’s background was, and I barely knew myself, saying, “Well, I think he worked for Nickelodeon.” Which left a lot out. Here’s Sergio to answer the rest for himself:

At the age of three, with a piece of chalk in hand and a budding artistic inclination, I remember scribbling wildly on my grandmother’s living room walls. My grandmother was delighted and even encouraged me—gasp!—to color on her walls regularly. 

And here’s where my story begins. I was born in Havana, Cuba under a communist regime. My parents entered a lottery-based system to obtain a visa from the Cuban government, and they were granted one to leave the country and go to Spain, albeit with nothing but the clothes on our backs. I was about 5 years old, and I remember my mother growing flowers in the balcony of our tiny apartment in Madrid. I became instantly fascinated with plants. 

Plants continued to be a fascinating subject and I began to earnestly pursue that and painting. Art class was my favorite subject in school. I enjoyed copying drawings by the old masters such as Dominique Ingres, Holbein and Durer. I taught myself how to paint in oils, and also greatly enjoyed writing and illustrating my own comic books. In short, I was smitten with art!

After 11 years living in Spain and in search of a better future, my parents made the difficult decision to move to the United States. As a teenager knowing barely any English, I was full of wonder and trepidation all at once. As an awkward 13-year-old kid with acne, the culture shock was seismic! Through those difficult times, horticulture and art were my refuge. 

On my 15th birthday and now living in Miami, my parents gave me a bonsai tree, a procumbens juniper. It was what we call “mallsai”… yeah, one of those! And this was pre-Karate Kid. But this little juniper was a thing of wonder to me! I followed the instructions it came with religiously, misting it often, a humidity tray of course, and made sure to grow it indoors. And, as fate would have it…I killed the plant. Surprised? It was a valuable teaching moment for this budding bonsai enthusiast. 

The 1980’s came rolling in like a freight train: a decade of excess, Michael Jackson, the end of the Cold War and, yes, no internet! By this time, I had moved to New York City to attend art school at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. 

After abandoning bonsai for a few years, the bug nudged me once again. As I was thinking about purchasing a juniper at a brick-and-mortar bonsai store in Manhattan, the sales lady said to me, “you do realize that bonsai is not a plant, but an art form, and your juniper will be required to be outdoors?” I gasped…the horror! How can a precious bonsai need to be outdoors? But I remembered the lesson I learned way back when I was 15, trying to grow my first bonsai. 

Not only did my newly purchased juniper live, but it thrived outdoors! Armed with little to no bonsai information at the time (remember no internet!) I continued to trudge my way through the fascinating world of bonsai with some success and a bit of failure…okay, a LOT of failure! 

The years passed, I painted murals in Manhattan posh clubs, designed window displays for Bloomingdale’s, and even worked as a toy designer for the fast-food industry’s kids’ meals. An Art Director friend then reached out to me who was looking for an illustrator. This was for Nickelodeon, which at the time was, next to Disney, the most highly-rated television network for kids. I became their first full-time, in-house artist working for their consumer products division. My long career there evolved from illustration work to brand development, to advertising and finally hotel and theme park branding and design. 

With a growing family and rising through the ranks at Nickelodeon, it was tough for me to pursue bonsai with any degree of commitment. Bonsai became a pastime often put on the sidelines. It felt more like I was simply growing trees in pots rather than anything that may have been remotely considered “artistic.”

It was now the mid-nineties, and I joined the Bergen Bonsai Club in New Jersey. The information I was given at the time was by today’s standards very “old school” but nevertheless helpful. I gradually became aware of some of the greats in American bonsai such as John Naka, Bill Valavanis, Chase Rosade, Boon Manakitivipart and Suthin Sukosolvisit. 

By the middle of “the early aughts”, artists and professionals such as Michael Hagedorn and Ryan Neil, joined later by Bjorn Bjorholm, came into the American bonsai scene. What I saw them doing and what they made possible, with new ideas and new ways of approaching bonsai, was a transformative experience for me. 

After almost three decades at Nickelodeon, it was time for a change, so I made the decision to turn my bonsai passion into a professional pursuit. To be sure, I miss those crazy Kids’ Choice Awards parties, getting slimed, and the slew of incredibly fun, talented people. But today I am very grateful to have the privilege of working as a full-time bonsai professional. Ironically, little has changed. I am still an artist who happens to work now with plants rather than paint and brush. I am hopeful that in some way I can make a meaningful contribution to the world of bonsai. And as Patrick Star from SpongeBob says… “The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma.”

Visit Sergio Cuan’s website: https://www.m5bonsaiworks.com