photos: Alan Mercer Lighting: Eric Venturo
Lenora Claire is a Los Angeles based art curator, writer, glamour girl, performance artist-glass eater, and event producer. She’s had her own sideshow cabaret, as well as created and curated many art events including the "scandalous" and "mentally unbalanced" (according to publications such as The National Enquirer, Globe, LA TIMES, Los Angeles Magazine, LA WEEKLY, VARIETY, Bizarre Magazine, TMZ, NPR, HDTV, Current TV, AOL News, Chicago Tribune, Defamer) Golden Gals Gone Wild show that featured erotic depictions of the Golden Girls and the Bettie Page Heaven Bound show featuring the art of Olivia. Lenora recently had the honor of posing for the legendary artist making one of her teenage dreams come true.
She has written over 200 published articles and interviewed celebrities including Elvira, Lynda Carter, John Waters, Julie Newmar, Bob Mackie, and many more. She’s also been known to model and appear in films, music videos, and on TV. She’s currently working on her biggest dream, her very own TV show in development with Prudence Fenton (Pee Wee's Playhouse, Liquid Television).
I met Lenora Claire last year at Julie Newmar’s birthday party. We talked about shooting then and here are the results. She is charming and pleasant to everyone she meets and I really like that. Typically she is the center of any event she is at. As a model she is a unique and special beauty with an ability to evoke a ‘pure fun’ sexuality.
Eric Venturo and I set out to capture a moment with Lenora Claire and she delivered her end with charm and grace. After the shoot we had a chance to get to know what makes this vivacious redhead such a hit!
AM: I don’t know anything about you Lenora.
LC: I was born in New York but my parents moved to Los Angeles when I was six months old so I am about as native to LA as you can get.
AM: Were you always interested in art from day one?
LC: Yes. I started doing commercials when I was a baby. I was always a weird little kid doing weird art projects. I had this idea when I was a kid that nothing was scarier than a monster with a thousand mouths. At six years old I made a costume of this monster with a sheet and I put on all these mouths. My teacher asked me what I was doing. She knew it was me because she could see my pink Barbie shoes. I’ve always been the kid with strange ideas. I have always wanted to create experiences for people because an artist is someone who can make you think and feel through experiences.
AM: When you were a teenager did you want to be a model or artist or actress?
LC: When I was a teenager I was actually all those things already. I graduated form high school when I was fifteen and a half. I wanted to be a director as I was inspired by John Waters and I was already directing short films. I started film school but three days into it I said this isn’t for me. I was working pretty regularly as an actress at this time because I was finished with school and they didn’t have to hire a tutor for me. I show up randomly in many things from the 90’s. I also did a lot of music videos back then because it was a big industry at that time. I was selling my art as well. The modeling took off when I turned eighteen.
AM: You must have some things you would like to do that you haven’t yet.
LC: I’ve been really lucky to say I have made a living in entertainment as a journalist. I’ve had the pleasure to interview many people that I admired. I’ve made a living curating art and creating shows. The one thing that I want to do is have a television show and I have one in development right now. I want to get that on the air and that is really difficult. I’m really happy because I have done almost everything I wanted.
AM: Are you talking about a reality show?
LC: It’s a variety show called Apocalyptic and it is a little bit talk show, some animation, experimental film and other variety type performances. It wouldn’t be like anything that is on the air right now.
AM: Are you on YouTube?
LC: Oh yes I do a web series called Donuts. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a donut shop late at night but it is always filled with crazy people. I want to go to them in the middle of the night and interview people. There is an emphasis on the nuts! It looks like it will air on television in Europe.
AM: You actually have a lot going on in Europe don’t you?
LC: Yes it’s been really great. Last year a channel in France asked me to be the underground guide to Los Angeles for a five part series that aired. I still get a lot of French fan mail because of it. Right now the biggest thing I have going on commercially is I’m one of the faces of the USA Network’s Character Project Ad Campaign. I appear in commercials shown on CNN, NBC, USA, and I have a billboard in Times Square with my face on it. There is a giant portrait of me in the NBC Rockefeller building and I am in all the Subway stations. New York and France are pretty well covered.
AM: How did you meet the artist Olivia?
LC: When I was hosting the Underground LA series I had a really lavish birthday party at the Houdini Mansion and I invited her and she came! We hit off and she did a drawing of me. It turned into a great friendship. She asked me to pose for her then. It was great to work with her as a model and super cool to work with her on a show. When I was fifteen years old my bedroom was plastered with her art and I never imagined we would be friends.
AM: Did the other artists and photographers like Austin Young find you?
LC: Austin is a funny story. I had a photograph that Austin had taken on my folder when I was in Junior High. Years later I would see his photographs and I always thought he was so talented. About four or five years ago I was at my hairdressers and he told me his friend Austin was having a birthday party and I should come. I actually crashed his birthday party! He said he would love to photograph me and that’s how we became friends.
AM: How did you meet Joe and Kim Dallesandro?
LC: I think it was just through MySpace. I invited them to one of my shows and they came. I love them both!
AM: You are certainly a queen in the Underground Art World of LA!
LC: Thank you.
EV: I have a question for you. Where would you like to fall in Art history when it’s all said and done?
LC: I just want people to be talking about me and what I have done. That means you have affected people. I’m very proud of the Golden Girl show that I did. TMZ broke the story about the show and within an hour I had NPR and National Enquirer. It made me realize that my weird ideas had an interest level beyond me and my friends. It really got me going.
EV: I am looking forward to what you do next.
LC: Thank you. The other thing that is really important to me is that a lot of people think they can’t do things because they don’t have a lot of money or the art school experience but I am proof that is not true. People get excited about a good idea and if you are really passionate about what you are doing people will support you. Now I feel like I can pull off anything.
To learn more about Lenora Claire visit her MySpace page http://www.myspace.com/lenoraclaire
AM: You must have some things you would like to do that you haven’t yet.
LC: I’ve been really lucky to say I have made a living in entertainment as a journalist. I’ve had the pleasure to interview many people that I admired. I’ve made a living curating art and creating shows. The one thing that I want to do is have a television show and I have one in development right now. I want to get that on the air and that is really difficult. I’m really happy because I have done almost everything I wanted.
AM: Are you talking about a reality show?
LC: It’s a variety show called Apocalyptic and it is a little bit talk show, some animation, experimental film and other variety type performances. It wouldn’t be like anything that is on the air right now.
AM: Are you on YouTube?
LC: Oh yes I do a web series called Donuts. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a donut shop late at night but it is always filled with crazy people. I want to go to them in the middle of the night and interview people. There is an emphasis on the nuts! It looks like it will air on television in Europe.
AM: You actually have a lot going on in Europe don’t you?
LC: Yes it’s been really great. Last year a channel in France asked me to be the underground guide to Los Angeles for a five part series that aired. I still get a lot of French fan mail because of it. Right now the biggest thing I have going on commercially is I’m one of the faces of the USA Network’s Character Project Ad Campaign. I appear in commercials shown on CNN, NBC, USA, and I have a billboard in Times Square with my face on it. There is a giant portrait of me in the NBC Rockefeller building and I am in all the Subway stations. New York and France are pretty well covered.
AM: How did you meet the artist Olivia?
LC: When I was hosting the Underground LA series I had a really lavish birthday party at the Houdini Mansion and I invited her and she came! We hit off and she did a drawing of me. It turned into a great friendship. She asked me to pose for her then. It was great to work with her as a model and super cool to work with her on a show. When I was fifteen years old my bedroom was plastered with her art and I never imagined we would be friends.
AM: Did the other artists and photographers like Austin Young find you?
LC: Austin is a funny story. I had a photograph that Austin had taken on my folder when I was in Junior High. Years later I would see his photographs and I always thought he was so talented. About four or five years ago I was at my hairdressers and he told me his friend Austin was having a birthday party and I should come. I actually crashed his birthday party! He said he would love to photograph me and that’s how we became friends.
AM: How did you meet Joe and Kim Dallesandro?
LC: I think it was just through MySpace. I invited them to one of my shows and they came. I love them both!
AM: You are certainly a queen in the Underground Art World of LA!
LC: Thank you.
EV: I have a question for you. Where would you like to fall in Art history when it’s all said and done?
LC: I just want people to be talking about me and what I have done. That means you have affected people. I’m very proud of the Golden Girl show that I did. TMZ broke the story about the show and within an hour I had NPR and National Enquirer. It made me realize that my weird ideas had an interest level beyond me and my friends. It really got me going.
EV: I am looking forward to what you do next.
LC: Thank you. The other thing that is really important to me is that a lot of people think they can’t do things because they don’t have a lot of money or the art school experience but I am proof that is not true. People get excited about a good idea and if you are really passionate about what you are doing people will support you. Now I feel like I can pull off anything.
To learn more about Lenora Claire visit her MySpace page http://www.myspace.com/lenoraclaire
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