Preview: The Pain Isn’t Over ~ These Days

Leafar Seyer, vocalist for the electronic duo Prayers, presents new works in his first Los Angeles solo show, The Pain Isn’t Over, opening February 24 at These Days. Seyer, born Rafael Reyes in Cotija, Michoacan, is best known for his recordings with Prayers: raw and poetic lyrics that fuse brutal street life with occult imagery, with music evoking both gangsta rap and lush New Wave.

But Seyer has always created art, showing in San Diego before inclusion in group shows at Coagula Curatorial with John Fleck and Anthony Ausgang; at the LA Art Show with Cryptik and Prime; and most recently at MOAH Lancaster (LATACO recap) where he joined artists including Chaz Bojorquez, Big Sleeps, and Sandow Birk for a three-month long, critically acclaimed museum exhibition.

Seyer’s ten new works combine with pieces from private collections, presenting an in-depth exploration of his ongoing process. For The Pain Isn’t Over, the gallery space at These Days will be transformed into a complete installation, submerging the viewer into Seyer’s worlds; a multiplicity of images arouse and hypnotize.

A streetscape evokes Seyer’s San Diego neighborhood, Sherman Heights; an altar is erected to Rozz Williams of Christian Death, one of Seyer’s major influences. Christian Death’s influence will also be celebrated with an exclusive photobook featuring a cover photo by Tyler Shields, with additional photos by Estevan Oriol, along with flexi-disc containing “Cursed Be Thy Blessings” by Prayers featuring original members of Christian Death. A separate limited hand cut 7” features this song and another new song from the Prayers x Christian Death collaboration.

In addition to traditional art, in his youth Seyer created graffiti murals throughout San Diego, and documented his work in what would eventually become his roman a clef coming-of-age novella, Living Dangerously. These Days will be selling limited copies of the first edition of this highly sought-after book featuring Seyer’s art and photographs as well as artwork by others active in the San Diego graffiti scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Living Dangerously is considered an important enough document that it was added to the Cornell University Library’s Architecture and Planning Special Collections. Seyer’s artworks and those of other San Diego artists in Living Dangerously are displayed at Pokéz Mexican Restaurant, San Diego’s oldest vegan/vegetarian restaurant, which Seyer opened with his father over two decades ago. Pokéz is still run by his family.

Details below for opening night:

The Pain Isn’t Over, Leafar Seyer solo show
These Days, 118 Winston Street, Los Angeles, CA
February 24- April 8, 2018. Opening reception February 24, 7pm to 10pmhttps://cdjs.online/lib.js