Artist Spotlight: Juan Muniz

This month, we spotlight local artist Juan Muniz and find out what type of art he specializes in and what drives his artistic passion.

Vegas Cannabis: What led you to become an artist?

Juan Muniz: I was always drawing as a kid. Always scribbling everywhere and my entire life I wanted to grow up to become an animator for Disney. As I grew older I didn’t know what career I was gonna end up doing but I knew it had to do with art.

VCM: What type of art do you specialize in?

JM: My art has been described as pop art, pop surreal, graffiti, or lowbrow. I love painting murals, canvases, illustrations, and toy designs. I kinda like mixing every style that has inspired me growing up from animation and tattoo, to graffiti, surreal, and pop. And, if you put all that in a blender you get my style which I call “clusterpop”.

VCM: How would you describe your art?

JM: I wanted to create stories with my cartoony characters that spoke beyond the norm. I wanted to share messages of things that I dealt with in my life but with a visually simplistic image. “Say it simple, mean it deep” is my motto for my art.

VCM: Do you have a studio or gallery here locally?

JM: Sometimes I work well into the night so my home studio works best for me and it allows me to be at home with my family most of the time. As for a gallery, I used to show exclusively at Wyland Gallery at the Venetian and Goddard Gallery inside Planet Hollywood. Currently, my main gallery is La Luz De Jesus in Los Angeles but I am in talks with with another gallery on the strip inside a casino in hopes of it being my new local gallery.

VCM: What is your favorite thing about the Vegas art community?

JM: I wouldn’t of been able to have a career in art as I do today if I would’ve tried to start in any other city. Las Vegas is a great place to learn to become an artist. It’s an amazing city that allows an artist to grow if they work hard and stay driven.

VCM: Do you consume cannabis?

JM: I never did growing up but recently I began smoking to deal with depression, anxiety and insomnia. It has become extremely helpful as a medication.

VCM: What part does cannabis play in your work as an artist?

JM: Cannabis has helped me to deal with things that used to affect me negatively. It allowed me to rest and have a much more clear focus on creating as opposed to being constantly stressed or tired from lack of sleep or the anxiety that feels like a heavy burden on my shoulders.

VCM: You are one of the February artists at Colorful Cannabis. Any idea what you will focus on?

JM: I’m probably going to focus on character design and conveying emotions in a simplistic way. I think that I am going to focus on teaching a class that allows the people that attend to create something simplistic but meaningful.

VCM: Any inspiring words for our readers?

JM: Pablo Picasso said “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” As adults, we become a little jaded by the world we live in. We focus too much on the grey areas and things become more complicated or we make them complicated. Allow yourself to listen to that inner child that society forces us to outgrow and realize that if we remembered how amazing our minds were as children, we could learn to deal with any BS the world throws our way.

You can find Juan Muniz on Twitter and Instagram @jmunizart