HVW8       Montreal

Heavyweight Production House (HVW8) was formed in the spring of 1998 in Montreal, Canada out of the collaborative efforts of a group of like-minded artists and designers to create a vehicle for their art & design work. Drawing from the urban environment, Heavyweight developed a mix-blend of styles and skills accumulated from a free association of intuitive interests - peripheral influences included rare groove album covers, Japanese hyper-pop styles, dub soundscapes, graffiti burns, skate graphics and turntable culture. Heavyweight tapped into a growing artistic community, extending its creative network to include producers, DJs, musicians, filmmakers as well as other artists and designers. What surfaced was a Heavyweight version, street-style campaign of underground parties, music & art shows, posters, flyers and stickers all housed and produced under one roof - forming the main elements of Heavyweight's creative foundation in art and design.

One of the principle artistic projects of HVW8 - the Heavyweight Art Installation - is made up of Gene Starship, Dan Buller (DSTRBO) and Ty G. 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 - a heavy bass, a steady beat, the vibe and the beat-oriented people - the painters instantly blend ideas onto the canvas, sampled from a rolodex of sketchbook images, old photographs, pop iconography and brush techniques. With each painting taking about three 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 music environments. Since its birth in 1988, Heavyweight Art Installation has been touring across the world, touching down across Canada, the United States, Europe and Japan, creating live art pieces along side world renowned musicians and DJs such as Jassanova, Afrika Bambaataa, Gilles Peterson, Bugz In The Attic, the Herbaliser, Roots Manuva, Osunlade and Jurassic 5. HVW8 has also exhibited in galleries such as the Parco Gallery in Tokyo and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) in Toronto.

Paul 107       Montreal

Paul Labonté also known as Paul 107 is from Pte. St Charles (Canada's first industrial slum) - located south of Montréal's downtown core. Paul has spent the last 12 years shooting editorial, photographs for record labels, and ads for clothing companies.

In 2003 he released his first book, All-City: The Book About Taking Space. The book sold well and Paul received awards for design, writing, and photography. In 2005 he collaborated with Marco Cibola and they released his second book Bully: It’s the Pits.

Paul is presently working on his third and fourth books. His third straddles the fine between fact and fiction it is a collection of photographs, short stories and scenes from the movie about his life. His fourth is a book and film project about Eric San (Kid Koala) and the turntable as an instrument.

Dennis Chow       Toronto

Dennis Chow is well known as the phantom mastermind behind GlamNation. Growing up in the 1980's, Chow has always been influenced by obscure aspects of popular culture. His work is heavily decorated with traces of humour, horror, raunch and attitude. The honesty of his subject matter is often praised as much as it is criticized, though the end result is always something that keeps the viewer interested.

Marco Cibola       Dundas, Ontario

Marco Cibola is a freelance graphic artist working out of the sleepy town of Dundas, Ontario, situated an hour outside of Toronto. He balances his time between graphic design, illustration, art direction and personal projects. His clients include Time magazine, Financial Times London, Outside magazine, ESPN, Nylon, Element Skateboards, Random House and many others. Marco works on many projects as one half of Nove Studio, a small design firm that he runs with his wife, Anne Cibola. Guilt & Pleasure – a Jewish literary and cultural quarterly – is one of the many successful projects that Nove has produced, receiving praise from peers and industry professionals such as Steven Heller (Print magazine, July/August 2006).

Marco’s artwork has been exhibited in galleries in North America and Europe, and he continues to work on personal projects that deal with the themes of time, repetition and growth. In addition to his international success, Marco is also a part time instructor at Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in the Illustration program.

Tracy Maurice       Budapest, Hungary

Tracy Maurice is a visual artist who works in a variety of mediums that include illustration, installation, design, film and video. She has exhibited in Japan and her drawings have appeared in various publications including McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. She is currently living in Budapest. www.barbarianlust.com.