Personal Branding of an Artist.
17/2 2010
My first love was music.
I started doing shows and touring in my early teenage years.
We were underground rap.
Back in the 90’s the Swedish hip hop scene was booming, so it was all eyes on us, the newcomers. I had found a movement who accepted all and based your success only on your ability to create, this was all I knew, all I cared for. As a rapper, graffiti artist, DJ or break dancer, image was important, but the nr 1 ground rule was being “real”. So any image you would wear was never to be fictional, never more than an amplified version of your own persona. To this young boy growing up in his beloved culture of hip hop, this pointer was perceived more like a law than anything else.
This image, or public persona, of an artist who was one side of me, grew to be who I was, and in many ways, who i still am.
Hip hop culture introduced me to graffiti and street art which became the gateway to my second love: art, design and all kinds of creative language through graphics and imagery.
My inevitable wish to be seen, heard and well respected for my work was a driving force but what had me striving too obtain every goal I set up for my self in this new career was the love I felt. The love I have for translating what I see when I close my eyes and showing it of to them I love or whoever wants I glimpse of it. This became more and more important to me while my reputation as an artist grew. And as it is now, nothing is more important. I have always, since childhood, sought attention, but never wanted it unless I had accomplished something, it was my award. This was why the rap game was a perfect fit, and why later art and design became my way of expression.
What I am getting at is this: My career choices were based on personality and curiousness, so, much of my success was, to many ends, not by chance but a bit unintentional. Well inspired and experimenting with any technique I could get my hands on, I found several new arenas for expressing my self in my work. I carried a little bit of fame with me from rap when I made the transition to art and design, and the image I had became a sort of brand. My public personality turned into my company’s branding.
Being overly social and attending every and all functions was something you had to do as a musician and as an artist/designer I continued down a similar path. My connections in the music industry overlapped into my new field of work. Also with this social network the social medias was a natural tool. To keep all my geographically scattered friends updated on my work was my motivation, but seeing how my name grew with this too made me take it more seriously as I reached a new audience. Or stumbled over a new audience as it really were. The outlook on image, that was so well imbedded within me from rap, forced me to be true to this audience and not only show the work but to be personal with it.
Somewhere down this line, I turned out looking more and more like a public figure with my visual adventures, viral videos, live painting and much more. This wasn’t planed, but it works well for me. It’s not so much fame as it is reputation and to be honest I don’t know how to duplicate or make any kind of business model out of it, since it’s based on being real. Being the original of me.
It’s real simple: if they like me, and they like what I do, than they’ll hire me.
Simon Diamant Silfverberg
CEO of Fantasimon / co founder of Heart&Dagger / co founder of Galleri Silfverberg Silfverberg & Silverberg
www.fantasimon.com
www.fantasimon.blogspot.com
Confidence and passion nice to read about a personal brand
It sounds like a different story of branding when it is personal. Passion yes definitely that is the remaining key in all brands.