What Does Artist Branding Mean? #8
The Art Lady – As Seen in Villager Magazine – by Arrachme
Recently a question came across my desk, “Why do you often use the word branding and what does it mean?”
The definition of a brand is a consistent visual style and identity that represents an artist. Branding exists all around us, from the cereal we eat to the tires we buy for our automobiles. Let’s explore how branding is used in relationship to art.
Branding is how an artist becomes known in the professional world. It requires time investment and consistent focus. The good news is that everyone has this capability. Success as an artist requires focusing on this subject.
All professional artists need to identify their brand, create the words to describe their brand, then use them in everything they do.
Without seeing the artist’s name, collectors, dealers, gallerists, and curators can look at a vast sea of paintings and pick out the brands that they are familiar with. They use branding as an identification tool. Look around your room at the art that you have collected. What similarities do you see?
Artists are identified by either their colors, mark-making style, genre, or a combination of these. When you look at my paintings in this article, can you tell if they came from the same artist? Rose Extracts of Wild Ginger and Water Garden, both have abstracted elements, and both use vibrant colors. Notice the marks within each piece. Water Garden has long flowing marks that are easy to spot. Rose Extracts of Wild Ginger also have long continuous marks in both sky and water. Notice the long lines acting as a connector between the sky and the water.
How are these identifiable similarities created during the artist’s process? Artists have a certain way they hold their brushes and tools that is unique to them. An example of this is as a five-year-old I decided to change from being right-handed, to left-handed. Many years later, an injury caused me to lose partial use of my right hand. This became a branding plus to my advantage. If I hold a brush with that right hand, the marks will be very different from the left hand. Even though these marks are different, they are always consistent across my two hundred plus inventory. All of us are original because our story includes our quirkiness.
A Fun Exercise
Even if you are not an artist, try these steps. Make a mark from a standing position verse sitting. Which is lighter? Which is darker? The stroke may be darker when sitting because you most likely will be leaning forward and more direct. The stroke from a standing position can be wider and looser.
Like my mentioned hand, the body affects strokes. See what you notice in this next exercise. Make some marks with a pencil or a brush. Notice that you are mostly using your hand and wrist. Now, tape a stick to extend the handle of a pencil or brush. While standing, make a mark on a paper. Notice that you are using your whole body and arm to do this. See how different the results are.
Finally, each of us has preferences. We gravitate to what we like. You will find that some of these methods make you happier than others. The artist will do the same. They will do what makes them comfortable, thus creating their style and or brand.
So now we visit the exception that makes identifying branding a bit more challenging. An artist rarely moves from genre to genre easily throughout their life. They usually find one or two that they like, and they stick with it. Picasso is an example of a rarity. I was told that I am one of these rare individuals by an agent that represents me, hence the reason that she reached out.
This does not mean that the artist bounces around like Tigger on their tail, from one thing to the next. Contrary, it is very precise. It means that the artist can produce quality professional artwork in multiple genres.
Regardless, if you are an artist, a collector, or both, you now have a clearer understanding of branding, I am grateful to the questioner.
In my classrooms, I often say, “If you dare to ask a question, most likely there are others in the room that have the same question. You are doing a service to those that are afraid to raise their hand.”