To Be a Kid Again (DCon 2022)

Coming from the harsh realities of life in West Philadelphia, Raheem Saladeen Johnson otherwise known as King Saladeen, took it upon himself to grasp at true happiness within his life and those around him even when things may have looked bleak. The idea that there are three things necessary for a person to be happy in this world is a concept that this young visual artist can readily accept as his someone to love, something to do and something to hope for have all revolved around his obsession for the arts since an early age. Since the age of 5 Saladeen’s passion for the arts has been a consistent part of his life, with the young budding artist drawing on whatever he could get his hands on from paper to walls. Having been raised in a tough urban environment where artistic outlets were few and far between, Saladeen instead turned his attention to basketball where he shined and became a force to be reckoned with while a high school athlete. His efforts brought him to numerous places across the country where his eyes were opened to the landscapes, shapes and colors that were vastly different than what the kid from Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate. A roller or squeegee is moved across the screen stencil, forcing or pumping ink past the threads of the woven mesh in the open areas. Screen printing is also a stencil method of print making in which a design is imposed on a screen of silk or other fine mesh, with blank areas coated with an impermeable substance, and ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface. It is also known as silkscreen, seriography, and serigraph.