Munzón Gallery in Long Beach
By: Jazzlynn Beltran
The Munzón Gallery is hosting their fourth exhibition and second interation of Sueños curated by artist Mister Toledo and Elizabeth Munzón in Long Beach until May 27.
Mister Toledo curated the first exhibition at Flatline Gallery called Sueños in Cambodia Town, Long Beach, Calif in 2022. Sueños II currently has 38 pieces of artworks installed by local artists from Long Beach and Los Angeles district.
Elizabeth Munzón is the owner of the gallery and main contributor for the art installations. She previously owned the Flatline Gallery where she had also helped local artists achieve their recognition and extra opportunities. Munzón attended Cal State Long Beach and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting in 2017. Based on Munzón’s art and portfolio, she is a Mexican-American oil painter that focuses on addressing her American ethnic identity within the context of art history and Mexican Pre-Hispanic mythologies.
“After graduating, my presence in local art shows made me open up to the possibility of being an owner to guide young artists, local artists and artists in their mid-careers to provide help for artists to get the experience they need,” said Munzón with a smile. “My passions started out as a fun activity, then it transitioned into a more professional gallery for art shows.”
Simultaneously, Munzón was contributing work as an intern to a non-profit organization called Arts Council of Long Beach, where she received an award for Professional Artists Fellowship. She landed a job as an art education program associate and started to make money to save up for her Munzón Gallery while also working with art shows to display her art work.
“I would take like a 10% off from the sales, which was probably just enough to buy spackles every couple of months to patch up the walls of my gallery,” said Munzón with disbelief. “I realized that this was a lot of work and I really wanted this to be my full-time job.
Munzón revealed that she wanted to make money to continue working with her passions and make a living because she also felt burnt out. This led to her quitting her job to pursue her gallery while making a living out of her work. She learned how to run a commercial gallery successfully, how to make it self-sustainable for artists in the community and to ultimately pay herself while hiring artists.
“This art space has helped contribute 100 spots to artists within four months. This included the shows, carving night every last Sunday of the month, the murals and little things here and there,” said Munzón. “I had five years with the old space. I think it could have been from 500 to 700 artists that I helped.”
There is no annual report for this gallery at the moment. She expressed that she has given a lot of thought to the matter of non-profit organizations and concluded that there’s a lot of politics and red-tape involved. Munzón has made her decision to not turn her gallery into a non-profit organization because she wants the freedom to create for herself and to help artists in her own way.
This space has helped local artists by giving them the gallery experience, especially with new emerging artists. Additionally, this experience has helped new artists learn the process of documenting their art work, write their artists statements, promote their work and value themselves by setting their own price. Moreover, the exposure that artists receive for collaborating with galleries eventually gets them their recognition that includes additional opportunities to expand their talent.
The goal for Munzón Gallery essentially is to establish itself as a commercial gallery to represent artists in baby steps. Until now, there have been four exhibitions opened to the public. According to Munzón’s donation and Sueños II book review, this has been everyone’s favorite curated art show by far. She plans to have more than just one piece from artists to display on the walls for future shows. Many artists and friends came to show their support for the art and Munzón.
Local freelance artist Michael Tran came to support his best friend and to network. “I wanted to support my best friend in the show who is also and my support for the gallery owner,” said Tran with enthusiasm. “They executed the event really well. I really liked how it felt like a community based event. My favorite art piece was a hand pulling on a braid of hair. The painting’s name is Ceiba and it is painted in oil, wax and epoxy clay panels by artist Abby Aceves.”
Another self-employed artist, Jacqueline Valenzuela, came to show her support for Munzón to get inspired. “I came to the opening because my friend owns the space. I think it is important to support an artist-run space. It was a really cool show. It was interesting to see artists that are more established in the fine art world with a mix of street art,” said Valenzuela. “I think my favorite painting is called Wet Dream by Miguel Mendoza, a gouache and acrylic painter and BFA student from Cal State Long Beach.”
The future for Munzón gallery will stay supporting artists and will be looking to expand their space for a Sueños III exhibition.
