We were lucky to catch up with Lana Guerra recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lana , thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
yes, i started as a teen painting portraits for people, i have had a lot of different creative jobs, all self employed. for a good 15 to 20 years i was a hairstylist, so i could get up and go where ever i wanted,i did a lot of big hair extensions & was in a lot of magazines, books when i lived in nyc. i would still paint and be in art shows. the hair led into crazy wig making from being in the fashion world and my wigs started turning more into art pieces, like 6 foot long octopuses, hairplanes (like airplanes but hair). at this time i was also bi coastal, doing a lot of experimental noise shows and big performances, that led me into the circus performance world. for about 5 or more years, i traveled every 4 to 6 weeks to work in hair in nyc & i had a gallery space in portland, at this time i was always traveling all over to perform but getting more into that life. eventually i got bored of doing hair and because i was performing as a belly dancer, i got really into making clothes/costumes, panting and now i was making puppets a lot. i really just liked waking up when i wanted, not having to be anywhere, i lived in my studio and do whatever i feel like that each day. after moving many more times, i found myself living in new orleans where costume designers sell so much more, at least the crazy patchwork art kind of designs i make. like always i was still painting, but started making more sales than i ever had in all the other places i previously lived. that led to me spending more time painting, doing murals, and now i only make costumes about once or twice a year- halloween & mardi gras. i love doing it all, it’s hard for me to commit to one form of art, also here in new orleans i perform again and do more puppet clown stuff. for sure left out a lot of other creative jobs / hobbies i have had between or at the same time in these mixes. lol
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
i think i kinda said this in my last question, as in how i got into my art career. back in the day i had a big worldwide following in the hair world working in the east village and chealsea hotel hair salons in nyc. at that time i was published in fun books like oh my goth, bust magazine & others. various comic book artists would add me to their comics, art, toys sold in stores like hot topic. when i did noise music i performed in my main project called power circus, played events like karla laveys satanic church parties, big noise festivals, performed shows with nurse with would at the great american music hall in sf. soriah & i toured all over doing our ritual noise project and at crazy events and opening for blixa bargeld from einstürzende neubauten, jarbow who used to be in the swans… many various write ups in music magazines. the 2 circus’s i was in back then were 999 eyes, (a freak show circus) and societas insomnia circus. as a belly dancer i was performing shows at big club events in portland with rachel brice. my clothes have been on saturday night live, i used to sell them at trash & vaudeville on st marks in nyc, courtney love used to buy my clothes from my etsy shop, disney used to hire me to make a lot of wigs for epcot & disneyland in florida. a couple years ago paris jackson, micheal jacksons daughter, had me do her 1st album art, front & back cover & owns the original paintings, the art was shown in time square on the big tv screens for good morning america at that time. back about 13/14/15 years ago i was lucky to be a part of this big outsider art show in france, outside of paris for 2 years with my dolls and few paintings. i sell my art right now in 4 different galleries, 2 in the friench quarter – gallery arlo on royal street & time before death on toulous, in philly at tibbie x gallery, and in memphis at meaty graffiti. i also still have 3 etsy shops, one for fashion (crude things), one for jewelry (black lodge jewelry) and one for my art (crude art). and on my website- crudethings.com
i’ve had a long crazy art career and i still have some of my 1st followers when i started just as a hairstylist, it’s really an amazing feeling to have people follow pretty much your whole life as an artists and still support you and to meet new people who love to collect my work- murals, costumes, paintings, wigs… still catch my live performances too! what i think is funny, i have never made any kind resume of bio with all these things and sometimes i forget a lot and my long time followers will remind me of shows they met me /my work.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
1st not going completely crazy, lol! art is not just making fun things and selling to make money. it’s who you are, i know i live my art in every way. i need to constantly create or i will loose my mind. it’s therapy, meditation, healing, you learn so much from your paintings after you finish & step back and look at what came out on canvas. like reading a diary, my other favorite is waking up and getting emails or meeting people, them telling you how much you inspire them to create / start painting, even quit their jobs to have an art career, or love your work and tell you stories about different things, how it relates to them or makes them feel. i also love when i get art made by kids, them painting my characters and how inspired they get to start painting. it’s a great feeling doing what you want, painting and having people all over the world love, buy your art and tell you how much joy it brings them.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
ntf’s…. i really do not get them at all. i try to understand, i even have stop motion art ones i’ve made for sale on foundation- https://foundation.app/@crudethings but i really do not get it or will every fully understand. instead i would rather go in my studio and paint instead. maybe in the future i will get more into that world.
Contact Info:
- Website: crudethings.com
- Instagram: @crudethings
- Facebook: lana guerra
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/crude_things
- Other: etsy.com/shop/crudeart etsy.com/shop/crudethings patreon.com/crudethings https://foundation.app/@crudethings