With Darkness Comes Light: Kadeem Phillips
Written by Georgia Eggers
Published on November 26th, 2025
“What do you see?” – a question I immediately overthought. I noticed balloons—heart-shaped balloons—and what looked like a stuffed animal drifting away into an abstract, patterned background. I started looking for clues, the first being the literal letters included: balloon letters spelling P-R-A-Y-4-M-E. And do you know what I thought? My overthinking took me down a path where I decided the letter T was missing. I thought the message should have said “parTy 4 me.”
This piece, titled “Pray For Me,” is one of Kadeem (Deem) Phillip’s favorites among his paintings, specifically because of all the interpretations he’s heard. He loves creating artwork that is evocative and contradictory, where the story of the piece changes from person to person. Every detail in “Pray For Me” is crafted with intention and depth.
Apparently, he had not heard my theory before, probably because it made no sense. Interestingly, though, the sentiment behind my theory, and on the painting itself, left a feeling no missing letter could steer me away from. I couldn’t help but notice the childlike motifs and place the context into something familiar (i.e., a birthday party). Yet, there were more feelings involved looking at the piece, complicated ones. I felt sadness, loneliness, and dissociation—feelings that exist irrespective of time and age, and perhaps this is what Kadeem does best.
Through his use of childhood symbolism and emotional depth, this duality offers a glimpse into his world that is real right now—a world that most people know well, even if it’s hard to confront. He rebuilds the separation we often make as adults from our childhood and childlike tendencies, because he believes where you come from never leaves you. His art reflects this belief, telling the story of his life’s journey.
Deem is a self-taught artist from Brooklyn and has been part of the art scene since 2014. He has participated in hundreds of group exhibitions in NYC, several group shows at Miami Art Basel, and has held several solo exhibitions. He paints, draws, makes murals, and designs clothing and merchandise.
He comes from a family of artists. Growing up, Deem’s mother encouraged his self-expression by placing him in all kinds of creative spaces. His mother drew fashion figures, his uncle’s art centered on anime and graphic novels, and his aunt painted watercolor landscapes. His work is a hybrid of these influences, with each style carrying meaning in his art.
“So much of your spark comes from your inner child, and art should be that place where you are free.”
For instance, some of the clothes he designs draw inspiration from anime and cartoons, as well as florals from his aunt’s watercolor paintings and his mom’s love of gardening. His work is an amalgamation of his life. Put simply, he says, “I try to paint the way I see the world around me. I feel like I use my art to tell the story of my life.” As a child, art gave him a way to express himself; now, as an adult, he reconnects with that part of himself to rediscover freedom. He believes, “So much of your spark comes from your inner child, and art should be that place where you are free.”
His childhood encouraged creativity and inspiration from different styles, and today he finds that his own style involves a lot of trial and error. He describes his constant experimentation with new techniques as almost scientific. His “scientist brain” loves to accumulate technical knowledge, balanced by his inner child steering the brushstroke. Through experimentation and expression, he says, “It’s learning to make the scientist and the child work together.”
This unconfined space allowed him to confront his mental health and use his connection to art as a way to express his emotions.
Bear with me here: you know in Inception when the characters have a “totem” to test whether they’re dreaming, and it serves as a reality check? Well, that’s the perfect way Deem described his own “totem”: Kadie. He calls Kadie his “inner child,” which actually began as a happy accident. During a difficult period, he found himself constantly drawn back to an idea—and that’s when he began to tell his story. By connecting with his inner child, he grounded himself in the reality of his mental health, pouring himself onto the canvas that Kadie helped seam together. Using Kadie became a tool to express the feelings he was experiencing. “Kadie shows that nothing is perfect. It’s beaten and torn up in most representations. It’s the story of a kid who is not perfect.”
“My artwork is a place where I can cry, and people can see it. I’m not afraid to be honest here.”
This is a deeply personal character for him, because it is him. This is the world he lives in. “My artwork is a place where I can cry, and people can see it. I’m not afraid to be honest here.” He continues, “I realized how hard that was for people who had never seen me before—to see me upset, in pain.” With each iteration of Kadie, the details tell the story within his mind.
In one of his Kadie paintings, the character is depicted with what appear to be gumballs in his eyes. This contrasts with another piece where Kadie’s eyes are a deep brown, representing a return to earth, being grounded. A different piece shows Kadie as a boxer, based on Muhammad Ali, where the visuals evoke themes of resilience and facing everything life throws your way. Kadie consistently tells a story. At first, he’s hidden within the worn-in teddy bear suit, which Deem describes: “The idea is that the suit is ripping, and the more it rips, the more you see the kid that’s in there—that represents who I was.” The band-aid comes off, the eyes begin to peek through the holes, the dreadlocks pop out—and then you see him.
He never confines his art to one theme, because as his work represents himself, it is always evolving. “I hate perfection, and I hate labeling. Art is not made to be perfect—nothing is made to be perfect.” As he paints the world around him, the world he lives in, how can it be authentic if he leaves out who he was, his journey as a person and as an artist?
“I want to tell stories about the messy, the dark times—this is part of me. But I also want it to be bright.”
He shares, “I want to tell stories about the messy, the dark times—this is part of me. But I also want it to be bright.” He describes this as a clear oxymoron, saying, “I’m trying to find bright, dark tones, if that makes sense? I want light and dark to always exist together.” This is embodied in Kadie as well. While the teddy bear suit appears cute, the details in the environment and on his body reveal a deeper, contrasting symbolism.
In Deem’s life, he has had a wide range of artistic influences, but his mentor Rob Ayala made a profound impact on how he sees the world. He describes Ayala as the “quarterback” of his life and someone who was always creating spaces where everyone felt seen and celebrated. These spaces championed diversity and inclusion, and Deem strives to continue that work. He says, “You can make the art world come to you instead of having to go to the art world.” This sense of freedom in art and expression, he believes, should be accessible to everyone, where no emotion is too dark for creation, and no darkness exists without some light. These themes are shown in all of Deem’s endeavors, from creating pieces to hosting his own shows to merchandising his work.
Kadeem’s art is the inclusion of everything and everyone. He expresses himself through light and dark, through the child and the scientist, and through the people who ground him and mental health’s unpredictable terrain. He builds a world that can’t help but mend the child and adult mind. He forces them to look at each other, to coexist, because in this parity lies acceptance of one another and peace.
