My essentials: Bob Cardona’s cultural picks

About  

I was born in Malta and emigrated to the UK with my family in 1962 at the age of seven. After graduating from Portsmouth College of Art in 1976, I embarked on a career in point-of-purchase display and later interior design.

Over the years, I worked on projects for a range of high-profile international brands, including Caterpillar, BOSS, Seiko, Sega Games and Mobil Oil, helping to develop innovative retail environments and consumer experiences. I went on to establish my own design agency, which I successfully ran for 35 years.

Following early retirement in 2016, I returned to painting, rekindling a passion that had first led me to art college. Today, my work is constantly changing and incredibly varied.

Book

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is both engaging and deeply reflective. The story resonated with me because it explores the universal question of ‘what if?’.

The roads not taken and the lives we might have lived. Through Nora Seed’s journey, Haig reminds us that perfection is an illusion and that meaning is often found in accepting our own imperfect path. Thoughtful, moving and ultimately uplifting, it left me reflecting on my own choices long after I finished reading it.

Film 

Kirk Jones’ I Swear is a moving and often heartfelt biographical drama about John Davidson, a Scottish man living with severe Tourette’s syndrome. I found it both powerful and very uncomfortable at times, as it balances humour with the raw reality of misunderstanding and stigma. Robert Aramayo’s performance is outstanding, anchoring the emotional weight of the story. Ultimately, it’s a film about resilience, dignity, and learning appreciate none of us are perfect, it had me in floods!

Internet and TV 

I guess Instagram has influenced my art by reshaping how I compose, share, and respond to visual culture, encouraging immediacy, experimentation, and constant dialogue with viewers. I view so many different artists work, some great some awful and some just ‘out there’ but like for many of us, social media is both a blessing and a curse.

As for TV, I love great dialogue and acting. The best example of this, has to be Breaking Bad (I watched it three times now). It just has compelling characters, a great plot and genius dialogue.

A Vince Gilligan masterclass. Probably the best TV drama ever.

Music 

My all-time favourite is David Bowie. His influence on pop culture feels timeless and deeply personal to me, almost like a soundtrack running through different stages of life. His constant reinvention, fearless creativity, and genre-defying music reshaped what it means to be an artist. From Ziggy Stardust to Blackstar, he blurred boundaries between music, fashion, and identity. Bowie didn’t just shape culture—he expanded it, giving permission to be different, experimental, and unapologetically individual in every aspect of expression.

Place 

There are many places that I have visited over the last few decades, among the most memorable being, the Maldives, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and New York. However, one place that I felt most ‘at home’ was Madrid. For reasons beyond me, I just fell in love with its vitality, passion, history and undercurrent of manic energy. Maybe because ‘Cardona’ is of Spanish origin, it must be in my DNA?