10 Questions with Luciano Jauregui

Luciano Jauregui is an underground graffiti writer from Chile who began painting and tagging in the streets as a teenage punk, bombing buses and illegal spots. He tagged the name Crow because he always dressed in black. There are no records from those early years.

After that period, he experienced a psychotic outbreak and spent a few months in a psychiatric clinic. During his time in rehab, he began painting expressionist canvases with a darker atmosphere. At that time, all he painted were eyes.

Later, he started studying Film and TV and focused entirely on his career, gradually drifting away from painting and graffiti. Still, he never forgot the feeling of painting in the streets and creating his own style. While finishing his degree in Film and TV, he started painting again, this time focusing on characters in a bombing style.

He began working in television and once again stopped painting graffiti, entering what he calls his “canvas era.” After quitting his job, he slowly returned to painting but realised he was getting older. Now, he’s back in the streets with stickers and trying to make some money with whatever he finds.

@lutzian0

“Mental states are infinite worlds of heaven and hell, enjoy the journey of your subconscious and try to be happy.”

— Luciano Jauregui

INTERVIEW

Let's start from the basics. Can you tell us how you first got into graffiti and what drew you to painting in the streets?

I was in high school. I had a friend, and I used to take drugs with him. He painted psychedelic stuff and other kinds of graffiti, not a usual style. I liked graffiti because I feel freedom when I'm painting or tagging. I think it's a good way to express myself and make vandalism that doesn't cause big damage. Also, it's a way to make bigger paintings at a low cost. It's like having a bigger canvas.

Why did you choose the name Crow for your tags, and what does it mean to you now?

I chose it because of a dream I had when I was starting to do graffiti. One day, I was dreaming, and I saw the tag in my dream, the exact tag that you see in the photos. I've always dressed in black, so it goes well with me. I've always liked rock, and I have an esoteric family on my mom's side: my mom, my grandmother, and my rebel aunt. Nowadays, I relate that tag to Aleister Crowley. My family is more into Chinese and Hindu culture, mostly Chinese, whatever. Nowadays, that tag means the search for freedom, like Aleister did in his time.

Graffiti character, spray cans and water based paint and roller, 2025 © Luciano Jauregui

How did your time in the psychiatric clinic influence the way you see and make art?

In psychiatry, you see a lot of distorted minds, a lot of chaos and suffering, and you're not in the best mental condition yourself. So, you start to search for a good place in your mind to keep yourself safe. Painting is something like that, it's a way to express negativity and put it out of your mind, to make the things that happen in your head become real. So sometimes there is negativity, but happiness too.

You mentioned painting mostly eyes during that period. What do eyes represent in your work?

Eyes put images in your mind. Everything you see is kept in your brain because of your eyes, so I relate eyes to all the things you see, all the suffering and happiness that you live through in life. Eyes create worlds.

How has your background in film and TV influenced your visual style or storytelling in painting?

Film and TV gave me new tools to create. I discovered new ways to make what I do on canvases by mixing it with photography, so now I can create new worlds through digital tools. It opened my mind to new ways of making art. The storytelling adapts to the world that I want to show with photographs.

What is your creative process like today, whether you're making stickers, canvases, or street pieces?

Lately, I've been doing stickers of TAO (yin-yang) because I think it's a beautiful message to spread in the streets. Taoism is a religion or philosophy not well known in my country, and I think it's good for people to expand their thoughts and find new ways to connect with God.

Your art often carries a dark or expressive energy. What emotions or ideas are you trying to communicate?

I'm trying to express what I feel inside of me. Sometimes that can be dark, so I'm expressing my experiences and my inner world.

LOST DREAMS, Digital photo painting, 60.96x81.28 cm, 2025 © Luciano Jauregui

How do people usually react to your work, both in the streets and in more traditional settings?

Usually, they don't say much, but the people who love me always say good words to support me.

What keeps you connected to graffiti after all these years, even with the changes in your life and career?

The freedom that it makes me feel, something that laws do not allow.

Lastly, what are you working on now, and where do you see your art going next?

Now I'm working on new photo paintings, but I don't know where my art will be in the future. I hope to sell a canvas and pay for some food or things I need. I am not dreaming at this time.

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.

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