Cabada works almost exclusively as a painter, in acrylic on canvas. He counts Richard Serra, Francis Bacon, Frank Gehry, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Alberto Giacometti among his artistic influences, not only for their style, but also for their process and perfectionist natures.[3] He experimented with several different styles before settling on acrylic on canvas.[4] His earlier work was considerably more figurative than his later abstract works and was generally cartoonish and whimsical.[5] Many of his early subjects were flowers, dancers, and portraits of classical composers and musicians. From 1973 to 1983, his painting of Frédéric Chopin was on exhibition in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., and his portrait of Elvis Presley featured on the front cover of Music Educator's Journal in 1970.[6]
