“I think every experience that you have good or bad is still good experience, whether it is a failure or success because you see what works, and what doesn’t, and you don’t know what skillsets you pick up here and there that you can utilize later on in life… so I think there’s no such thing as wasted time… it’s just time invested into yourself,” – Rahmaan Hameed

Rahmaan Hameed is a multi-disciplinary creative director and professional art consultant with over 7 years of professional experience working with both private and commercial clients. Rahmaan specializes in many forms of art including contemporary street art, pop art, marketing, brand architecture, illustration, and graphic design. Hailing from Edmonton Alberta, The Universal Radio Network’s very own Sapreet Buttar had the chance to sit down with Rahmeed to talk about his career and journey as a professional artist, what inspires his projects, and much more in this episode.

At the beginning of the interview, Rahmaan talks about his beginnings and how his career as an artist came to be in Edmonton (1:21), work-life balance (2:16), how he goes about gaining the time in order to figure out his next project (3:00), whether he went straight into being an artist or pursued a different career path at first (4:00), and whether the skills he obtained while learning psychology and finance are applicable to where he is today (5:40). Next Rahmaan shares his journey as a South Asian artist (8:29), at what point did he receive the validation that the path he chose was the correct one (10:06), how he feels supported on his path as an artist (11:43), how much of his following on social media is international vs from Canada (14:29), and where people can go see his artwork currently in Edmonton (15:51).

In the middle of their discussion, Sapreet and Rahmaan talk about some of the artists Rahman gained inspiration from (19:25), how he makes sure the work he’s doing now isn’t just for commercial purposes and still feeding into his passion (21:02), advice he would give to people looking to pursuit their artistic passions (22:09), how his perspectives changed once Rahman became a parent (24:11), and what his coping mechanisms are (25:10). Finally Rahmaan tells listeners how they are able to obtain his artwork (28:17) and upcoming projects coming in the future (28:49).