CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 8/23/2025

Arcana presents Arthur Jafa in conversation with Julian Myers for the launch of 'Live Evil'

Saturday, August 23, from 4 to 6 PM, Arcana presents Los Angeles artist Arthur Jafa to celebrate the release of his new publication, Live Evil. In addition to signing copies, he will engage in a discussion of the book and his work with art historian Julian Myers.

Having worked in film and music for decades, American artist Arthur Jafa garnered acclaim in the art world in 2016 for his video work 'Love is the Message, the Message is Death.' Composed of found images and videos, his oeuvre revolves around Black American culture, the history of slavery and ongoing structural and physical violence against Black Americans. As Jafa put it in his 2003 text 'My Black Death,' “The central conundrum of black being (the double bind of our ontological existence) lies in the fact that common misery both defines and limits who we are. Such that our efforts to eliminate those forces which constrain also function to dissipate much which gives us our specificity, our uniqueness, our flavor by destroying the binds that define we will cease to be, but this is the good death (boa morte) to be embraced."

Bringing together affective memories that touch on US history, violence, repression, modalities of survival and how these exist in the production and dissemination of images, music, sound and time-based media, Jafa reflects on the ontology of race and Blackness.This richly illustrated catalog reproduces key works from Jafa's wide-ranging oeuvre and explores the philosophical, historical and artistic implications of his practice, featuring essays and a series of conversations between Jafa and key practitioners working in the fields of cinema, arts and theory.

If you cannot attend (or would like to reserve a copy) you can purchase a signed copy of Live Evil here!

ARCANA
'Live Evil' launch: Arthur Jafa in conversation with Julian Myers
Saturday, August 23, 4–6 PM
8675 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232