When it’s the three of us we think differently, challenge each other, and approach problems differently. It’s allowed us to grow independently as artists and also bring more when collectively we get together. Now there’s nothing that really stops us. Distance doesn’t stop us.
- HVW8

L to R: Dan Buller, Tyler Gibney, Gene Pendon

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Ten years ago the original idea behind the a HVW8 composition/piece was to pay hommage to someone deserving in their field whether it was musically, such as Miles Davis, Donny Hathaway, Nina Simone, Augutus Pablo; politically, like Shirin Ebadi, Noam Chomsky, Romeo Dallaire; a tribute to other artists, like Malike Sibyde and Mies van der Rohe; or just persons deserving of being called ‘heavyweights‘, like Richard Pryor and David Suzuki. HVW8 would take the iconography and sample it like a jazz standard and freestyle around it, building something to call our own and proud to represent.

One of the principle artistic projects of Heavyweight Production House, the Heavyweight Art Installation is made up of Tyler Gibney, G Starship and Dan Bulller. The three artists work in collaboration, not unlike the dynamic that came from past mural jobs, graffiti exploits, art parties and comic jams, to create painted compositions live within club settings and before music audiences. Using the environment as inspiration, the painters instantlly blend ideas onto the canvas, sampled from a rolodex of sketchbook images, Polaroids, old photographs, pop iconography and brush techniques. With each painting taking about 3-4 hours to complete, the process is a challenge of graphic resourcefulness; the live aspect compresses the painting experience into spontaneous reactions to time, space and energy. The result is a document of the night, capturing the mood, sounds and electricity of these environments. Heayvweight Art Installation has toured and exhibited internationally in venues in Japan, England, Holland, Brussels, Germany, Italy, Canada, USA, Puerto Rico.

The HVW8 Art installation first debut was painting live at the 1999 Montreal Jazz Festival. Following that the collective have created live art across the world, participating in festivals such as the Coachella Festival in Indio, California, the Winter Music Conference in Miami, CMJ Festival in New York City, and the Candela Music and Arts Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The trio have performed their live art along sides cutting edge musicians, producers and DJ’s such as Jazzanova, Afrika Bambaataa, Gilles Peterson, Bugz In The Attic, the Herbaliser, Roots Manuva, Osunlade and Black Spade, Kid Koala, the Herbaliser, Masters at Work, United Future Organisation and theHerbaliser. HVW8 has exhibitions in galleries such as the Parco Gallery in Tokyo, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) in Toronto, and the Liane and Danny Taran Gallery Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts in Montreal. Their work as been included in the private collections of Paul Allen, Marc Ecko, Kevin Garnett, Talib Kweli and Eric Belfour. The Hvw8 Art Installation has also been featured in such publications as Graffiti World, Scawl 2: More Dirt, and The Art of Rebellion 2: World of Urban Art Activism and artist film documentaries such as Next: A Primer on Urban Painting (Pablo Aravena/Agnes B. Love Streams) and The Run-Up (Upper Playground).

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Interview in San Francisco in 2008 for 10 year show.