In 1985, he won the José Fuentes Mares National Prize for Literature given by the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez on its inaugural edition, which he rejected.[why?]
He participated twice in the "Chihuahuan Writers Gatherings" organized since 1982 by Mario Arras, who proposed him as a candidate to receive the "Tomás Valles Vivar" Award in the subject of literature on its first edition, but lost to philosopher Federico Ferro Gay.
Gardea belongs to the group of Chihuahuan artists born during the 1940s decade, made up of writers such as Victor Hugo Rascón Banda, Ignacio Solares, Joaquín Armando Chacón, José Vicente Anaya and Carlos Montemayor, and sculptor Sebastián.
Most of these prolific artists moved to Mexico City looking forward to gaining recognition and money; however, Gardea remained firm on his desire to live in his birth state.
Gardea's is a world of wind and sun, scorching summers and frigid winters, small towns and lonely houses, empty horizons.