News

Finding Vision Sept 4 – 6, HVW8 LA



From rare original manuscripts dating back to the ’70s to classic decks, the⁠ exhibition traces the evolution of skateboarding culture across generations.⁠ Members of the legendary VISION PRO TEAM will also make appearances⁠ throughout the exhibition.

📅September 4-6⁠

HVW8 Gallery Los Angeles
661 N. Spaulding Ave. Los Angeles, Ca. 90036

Schedule

  • Friday, September 4th
    • 6pm-10pm
    • VIP/Media/Industry Reception
    • Invite only
    • Food/drinks served
  • Saturday, September 5th
    • 1pm-9pm
      • Look Back Library display
      • Live grip tape art by Mark Oblow
      • Team riders hanging out!
    • Open to the Public
  • Sunday, September 6th
    • 12pm-3pm
    • Open to the Public
    • Last chance!

      

Tobias Vetter – Forgotten Promises – HVW8 Berlin

Tobias Vetter – “Forgotten Promises”
Solo Exhibition at HVW8 Gallery Berlin

Opening Reception: September 10, 2026, 7–10 PM
Exhibition Dates: September 10 – October 1, 2026
HVW8 Gallery Berlin, Linienstraße 161, 10115 Berlin-Mitte

HVW8 Gallery Berlin is pleased to present “Forgotten Promises,” a solo exhibition by Tobias Vetter. In this new body of work, the artist gives form to emotions that have remained unnamed: promises fading from memory, hopes left unfulfilled or long since broken, the illusion of freedom, and the enduring belief that things will get better.

Vetter’s protagonists appear dreamlike and remote, suspended in a state of waiting. Their emotions resist easy interpretation, hovering somewhere between longing and resignation. Moving between figuration and abstraction, dream and wakefulness, Vetter creates monumental figures in which vulnerability and strength coexist.

Through the repeated overpainting of multiple layers, the process of forgetting becomes visible within the works themselves. The paintings occupy an in-between space, recalling the fleeting state just after waking, when dream and reality still overlap. Yet there is one crucial difference: these images do not fade. They remain – quiet portraits of what was once promised and of what endures.

About the Artist

Tobias Vetter (b. 1985 in the Allgäu region of southern Germany) has lived in Berlin since 2010. He initially worked as a tattoo artist before establishing an independent studio practice spanning oil painting, Jacquard tapestries, and sculpture in marble and limestone. His work has been exhibited alongside artists including Alicja Kwade, Jonathan Meese, and Stefan Rinck, with presentations in New York and Los Angeles as well
as at Art Karlsruhe and during Berlin Art Week.

Raised amid conventions and clearly defined social roles in the Allgäu region of southern Germany, Vetter found an early sense of freedom in the vastness of the Alps. From the tension between belonging and independence, strength and vulnerability, emerged a path beyond familiar structures – an ongoing movement between tradition and inner autonomy that continues to shape his practice.

In Berlin, Vetter found space for both individuality and anonymity. His work moves between figuration and abstraction, dream and wakefulness, culminating in monumental figures that hold vulnerability and resilience in balance and transform personal experience into something archetypal.

About HVW8 Gallery Berlin

HVW8 is an art + design gallery based in Berlin-Mitte. The gallery has maintained a presence in the German capital since 2014, following more than a decade of gallery activity in Los Angeles. Its program focuses on contemporary art, with a particular affinity for avant-garde graphic design and an international network of artists working across disciplines.

Press Information
Exhibition: Tobias Vetter – “Forgotten Promises”
Location: HVW8 Gallery Berlin, Linienstraße 161, 10115 Berlin-Mitte
Opening Reception: September 10, 2026, 7–10 PM
Exhibition Dates: September 10 – October 1, 2026
Opening Hours: Wed-Sat, 2-7pm

Press Contact
MARCUS LUDWIG-PFAENDER
HVW8 Gallery Berlin
Linienstraße 161, 10115 Berlin
marcus@hvw8.com

press images are available upon request.

Timepiece, Crosstown Traffic – Berlin

Opening June 8th, 6 – 10pm
at HVW8 Berlin. 161 LinienStr

Southern California has been the backdrop for stories captured on film and television. The myth created around it has been sold as street lined palm trees and blue skies. For many native Angelenos they see this as a single thread to a larger picture. From the sunny shores of Malibu to the mountains of Mammoth the identity of SoCal is heavily intertwined with the years of wear and tear, reinvention, and intervention this land wears proudly.

Fading neon lights, murals boasting achievements and heroes, and buildings from different eras of the region hold their weight in the visual tapestry. Artists Paul Flores and Henry Fey are great admirers of their home, often working as visual anthropologists to document/source material that captures time and location. For this exhibition at HVW8 Berlin the two artists invite viewers to experience the famed land through the eyes of natives. An opportunity to see the colors and compositions funneled through intimate artistic practices. Vignettes of Los Angeles and the towns that lie past its city limits are on display throughout the space, each allowing the viewer a chance to get transported 5,784 miles back to their place of origin. Just like the landscape they inhabit, pieces in the show often bare many layers, both literally and metaphorically. The two artists are interested in capturing time, feelings, and narratives that accumulate on top of one another just like how it happens so naturally in this region. At the heart of Flores and Fey’s artistry lies a deep appreciation for the graphic aesthetics that define Southern California. They contextualize it into a visual poem, one in which they’ve generously invited you to read.

More information here

ALAIN LEVITT ‘NYC 2000 – 2005’ now on view at HVW8 LA

ALAIN LEVITT
NYC 2000 – 2005
May 30th – June 29th, 2024
Opening May 30th, 7-10pm
Please RSVP at rsvp@hvw8.com

Photography is more about time than light. The instantaneous click of the shutter, where light imprints an echo of a moment onto film that, with emulsion, becomes a tangible trace of a time that the viewer will never see again. Even digitally, it’s the same idea: we look into the past when we look at photography. So what kind of past do we see in Alain Levitt’s photographs? First, they are shot on film, so we see a time before digital cameras and social media sped up the time from the shot to the audience. This matters. Alain’s photos record a past time, perhaps the last time, that one posed for photos they may not ever see. This may explain the naked innocence that reads as vulnerable bluster or decadent swagger depending on the subject. Some subjects hoped they’d end up a Do, while secretly feeling like a Don’t. Alain tenderly captured that indeterminacy. At the turn of the millennium, hipster fashion drew from the seventies and eighties because the future was unimaginably bleak. Do’s and Don’t’s were about humor and horror: facing the ruins of a forfeited future, how else could one react but with sneering laughter? Surrounded by death with no job security, social currency and cultural capital mattered most. Levitt preserved in film’s incandescent flicker the last gasp of a fugitive, underground nightlife. Behavior wasn’t yet proscribed by clout. Photographic time was still produced in emulsion not gigabytes. Pinched between the glorious afterglow of New York’s subculturalJason Dill heyday and the dawn of a life lived through a screen, Alain shot his friends as they stumbled through the flux at 4am. The images are timeless because his subject was between epochs, out of step with the rest of the world. Now two decades later, these don’t stand so much as record of a bygone era, but a blueprint for what being young New York City has become: a provisional gig-economy city driven by social spectacle. That fleeting moment in time has been preserved for all time.

About ALAIN LEVITT

Alain Levitt – Born in Santa Monica in 1974, Alain grew up freerange on the west side of Los Angeles. Skateboarding, Graffiti, Raving – the trifecta of 90’s subcultures – helped inform his worldview and gave him a home amongst the outcasts. The same world he would focus his lens on after moving to New York in 2000. (Where he lived with Dill and Mikey for a short stint) Not yet a photographer, Alain picked up a camera out of necessity. His first job in NY was shooting street fashion for his sister, Danielle Levitt’s, Sunday style column in the New York Post – a job that required carrying a camera 24/7. Alain recalls showing up to Max Fish and being gently made fun of for his oversized Paparazzi rig. His second job, at the infamous gay bar The Cock, gave him a front-row seat to a wild NY that was quickly being choked out by Mayor Giuliani and provided enough income for this budding photographer to only work two evenings a week. More time to run the streets. Alain quickly found his community on the Lower East Side. Alife by day, Max Fish at night. And after starting a biweekly party, with Spencer Sweeny, at The Hole, Alain planted his seed in the downtown scene. These photographs represent a specific time in New York. A time just before iPhones, a time just before party websites. A New York still informed by the generation before that had sent out a beacon to guide us to a family we didn’t know we were part of. This book is not about the photographs but of a beautiful moment we were so lucky to be part of.

With support from adidas and FA

NOSTALGIA FALSA April 19th – May 25th, 2024, HVW8 LA

 

Opening April 19th “Nostalgia Falsa”

Join us Friday, April 19th from 6-10 p.m. in our Los Angeles Gallery for the opening of“Nostalgia Falsa” a group show curated by Kari Padilla.

Art not only evokes memories but also delves into nostalgia as a strategy to critically analyze the past and its influence on the present. This exploration involves there interpretation and questioning of established historical narratives, challenging common perceptions of collective memory and offering new perspectives on distant events that contribute to our identity.

“False Nostalgia” arises when one yearns for a place or time they have never truly lived in. It also fictionalizes the memory of lived experiences. However, the mechanism of this type of nostalgia serves to critically recognize ourselves and create connections with that which is distant, as it is somehow connected to us and impacts the physical and emotional experience of the here and now.

This group exhibition of five Mexican artists – Napoleón Aguilera, Julio García Aguilar, Marianela Castro Mercado, Alonso Robles, and Trilce Zúñiga Loya – serves a critical purpose by inviting the public to recognize themselves and create connections with seemingly distant experiences. The sentiment resonates through a familiar visual language in artworks spanning painting, sculpture, and mixed media, exploring themes of supposed Mexican identity: family celebrations, machismo, cultural nuances, desert, and urban space. Ultimately, for better or for worse, these narratives are somehow reproduced in other places and times.

The exhibition explores the relationship between memory, identity, and cultural connections.

To RSVP for our opening reception please email rsvp@hvw8.com, to inquire please contact info@hvw8.com

Apertura el 19 de abril “Nostalgia Falsa”

Acompáñanos el viernes 19 de abril de 6 a 10 p.m. en nuestra galería de Los Ángeles para la inauguración de “Nostalgia Falsa”, una exposición colectiva curada por Kari Padilla.

El arte no solo evoca recuerdos, sino que también se sumerge en la nostalgia como una estrategia para analizar críticamente el pasado y su influencia en el presente. Esta exploración implica la reinterpretación y el cuestionamiento de las narrativas históricas establecidas, desafiando las percepciones comunes de la memoria colectiva y ofreciendo nuevas perspectivas sobre eventos lejanos que contribuyen a nuestra identidad.

La “Nostalgia Falsa” surge cuando uno anhela un lugar o tiempo en el que nunca ha vivido realmente. También, interpreta con ficción el recuerdo de lo vivido. Sin embargo, el mecanismo de este tipo de nostalgia sirve para reconocernos críticamente y crear vínculos con aquello que es distante, pues de alguna forma está conectado a nosotros y repercute en la experiencia física y emocional del aquí y ahora.

Esta exposición grupal de cinco artistas mexicanos – Napoleón Aguilera, Julio García Aguilar, Marianela Castro Mercado, Alonso Robles y Trilce Zúñiga Loya – sirve un propósito crítico al invitar al público a reconocerse a sí mismo y crear conexiones con experiencias aparentemente distantes. El sentimiento resuena a través de un lenguaje visual familiar en obras de arte que abarcan pintura, escultura y medios mixtos, explorando temas de la supuesta identidad mexicana: fiestas familiares, machismo, matices culturales, desierto y el espacio urbano. Al final, para bien o para mal, estas narrativas se reproducen de alguna forma en otros lugares y tiempos.

La exposición explora la relación entre la memoria, la identidad y las conexiones culturales.

Para confirmar su asistencia a nuestra recepción de apertura, envíe un correo a rsvp@hvw8.com; para consultas, comuníquese con info@hvw8.com.

Featured Artist
Napoleón Aguilera
Julio García Aguilar
Marianela Castro Mercado
Alonso Robles
Trilce Zúñiga Loya

More info Here.

City of Quartz 2 – Berlin Gallery Weekend

 

City of Quartz 2

At HVW8 Berlin
Linienstraße 161
10115
April 27 – May 26, 2024
On the occasion of Berlin Gallery Weekend

Featuring:

Alfonso Gonzalez Jr
Eddie Salinas
Emmanuel Louisnord Desir
Fulton Leroy Washington
Rikkí Wright
Willbert Olivar & Lalo Avila

City of Quartz 2 is a follow up to the eponymously eponymous exhibition from March of 2020, which opened just days before the world would close down…
Ironically the initial exhibition lifted its name from the 1990 book by author Mike Davis, which examines how contemporary Los Angeles had been shaped by different powerful forces in history much like the Covid 19 pandemic would come to shape and effect the entire world.. As the dust continues to settle in a post pandemic paradigm, we once again assemble a group of seven Los Angeles based artists at an attempt to understand where we might by be headed in the City of Quartz.

Los Angeles, regarded as the media capital, has long been responsible for authoring and disseminating trends in culture that reverberate the world over. Perched on the edge of the western world, we begin at the end and work our way toward the future, literally, in time and place our findings from the once sleepy desert village onto the European stage (the beginning of the western world) and examine them in a way one could only do in a city like Berlin Germany.

The two HVW8 galleries bookend the entirety of The West, with a bunch of stuff happening in between, City of Quartz 2 is an attempt to understand what the heck is going on in a world which feels to be spiraling at an ever accelerated pace.

City of Quartz 2 will open during Berlin Gallery Weekend with an opening reception on Friday April 27th and continue on view through the end of May.

Gallery Weekend marks the beginning of the spring and summer season in the region where the gallery will expect to receive hundreds of visitors over the course of the exhibition. City of Quartz 2 is the continuation of periodical surveys examining the shifting zeitgeist of Los Angeles through its most prominent artists of the moment. Within the exhibition several of the artists have been included in major museum exhibitions, and biennials such as Made in LA, and the Rubell Museum.

The Artist Residency, Series I — FINAL WEEKEND

HVW8 + ARTV present: The Artist Residency, Series I — FINAL WEEKEND.

Sunday, August 23rd, 2–5pm, with Ava Maria and Ade Ogunmowo, plus a special music guest.

The Artist Residency is an ongoing social experiment, opening the artists’ practice to the viewer and creating space for exchange and dialogue. Since its origins, one of HVW8’s founding principles has been to break down the relationship between artist and viewer and invite people into the process.

The sounds, conversations, and environment all become part of the work.

Come experience it firsthand this weekend.

HVW8 Gallery
661 N. Spaulding Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Selly Sy: Au Fil du Lin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Selly Sy: Au Fil du Lin

Opening Reception: May 22, 2026
On View Through: June 21, 2026

Selly Sy presents Au Fil du Lin, a series of staged photographs conceived as a unified body of work. Drawing from the different worlds that have shaped the artist, the series revives cultural traditions and reshapes them into contemporary, personal expressions.

Lace serves as both the thematic and visual thread connecting the work, a textile rooted in Sy’s earliest memories, a cherished traditional craft from her mother’s region in Normandy, and an ornament that evokes femininity, tradition, and the evolving experience of womanhood. By combining photography with fabric, Sy recalls the collages and layered magazine imagery she was drawn to as a child. The resulting works feel expansive and tactile, transforming photographs into dimensional objects intended to be experienced within an exhibition space rather than as flat images alone.

About the Artist

Selly Sy is a French American photographer living and working between Los Angeles and Dakar. Rooted in the tension and tenderness of two worlds, her practice explores questions of identity, culture, and diasporic experience, examining what it means to belong to multiple places at once. Through both commissioned and personal projects, Sy brings a considered eye to the spaces, faces, and stories that exist at the intersection of West African and Western culture.

HVW8 Gallery
661 N. Spaulding Ave. 

Los Angeles, CA 90036
Wed–Sun, 1–6pm
info@hvw8.com 
hvw8.com | @hvw8gallery

Violet edition 1, 2026
35 h x 45 w Pigment print with lace

HVW8 x adidas CONFIRMED x Kader Sylla

HVW8 x adidas CONFIRMED x Kader Sylla. Two original commissions by Jacob Rochester and Nikkolos Mohammed.

 

Kader (Sunrise) & (Sunset) Diptych by Nikkolos Mohammed 25 x 32 in Gouache / oil relief print on Japanese handmade paper, mounted on panel, 2026

Boy on Crate Gouache on paper, 9 x 12 in, 2026

Flag on Chair Gouache on paper, 9 x 12 in, 2026

By Jacob Rochester

Julia Gröning – Opening: 1 May 2026, Berlin

HVW8 Galerie Berlin
Julia Gröning

Opening: 1 May 2026, 7 pm | HVW8 Galerie, Berlin

HVW8 Galerie Berlin is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition of Julia Gröning at the gallery. Opening on 1 May 2026, the untitled show brings together a selection of works from recent years alongside new and previously unseen pieces — offering the most comprehensive overview of their practice to date in a Berlin gallery context.

Gröning’s work operates in the space between personal memory and collective visual culture. Drawing on the imagery of 1980s DIY, skateboarding, and underground music — the flyers, shirt prints, and snapshot photographs that defined those scenes — they transform these fragments into paintings of quiet intensity, where familiarity and estrangement sit in uneasy balance. Photography runs alongside and through the paintings, serving both as source material and as a medium in its own right.

The exhibition marks a significant moment in Gröning’s ongoing dialogue with Berlin’s art scene — a city they have called home for years and whose cultural energy has shaped much of their recent work. The pairing of earlier and new pieces invites a reading of their practice as cumulative: each work a layer in an ongoing archive of images that refuse easy resolution.

Julia Gröning (b. 1980, Mönchengladbach) studied Fine Arts at the Academy of Arts in Münster, graduating as Meisterschülerin under Prof. Daniele Buetti in 2007. Their work has been shown internationally in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Chile. Their monograph YES, BUT NO was published by Revolver Publishing, Berlin, in 2012.

Contact – marcus@hvw8.com

In Your Dreams – HVW8 Berlin

HVW8 Berlin presents In Your Dreams, a group show exploring nostalgia and dreaming, life and death, and the restless churn and quiet freedom of a mind in solitude.

Featuring
Sergio Ben Mario
Mona Sardari
Kieran Loftus

Opening Friday, 10 April
17:00 – 21:00
On view through 29 April

HVW8
Linienstraße 161, Berlin

Natural wines by Bare Wines

In Your Dreams is a new group show presented by HVW8 Gallery, moving through nostalgia and dreaming, life and death, and the restless churn and absolute freedom of a mind in solitude.

With works by Berlin-based artists Sergio Ben Mario, Mona Sardari, and Kieran Loftus, the show weaves together pen(or marker) and paper drawings and paintings that illustrate feelings of childlike wonder and humour, in contrast to the deeper introspection that comes with age.

Each artist constructs a distinct inner world, light in tone but deeply personal, tracing the contours of their thoughts as they unfold. Together, the works form a loose, dreamlike landscape that invites viewers to drift between imagination and reflection. 

KARL HAB: 24H LOS ANGELES 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

HVW8 GALLERY PRESENTS
KARL HAB: 24H LOS ANGELES 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
WITH SUPPORT FROM ADIDAS ORIGINALS

HVW8 Gallery presents 24H Los Angeles 10 Year Anniversary, a special exhibition and book release by Karl Hab, marking ten years since the original project that captured Los Angeles across a full 24 hour cycle.

Originally published in 2016, 24H Los Angeles became a defining visual study of the city, tracing its rhythm from sunrise to night. Built around a continuous 24 hour structure, each photograph is timestamped and geolocated, creating a real-time portrait of Los Angeles through light, movement, and atmosphere.

Ten years later, Karl Hab returns with a new edition featuring previously unseen images and new perspectives gathered over a decade of shooting the city from street level to the sky. The work moves from early morning arrivals at LAX through the shifting geometry of downtown, into golden hour across the hills, and late night along the coast.

This anniversary edition also includes contributions from key voices across the Los Angeles creative community, including Alex Israel, Dr Woo, Shaniqwa Jarvis, Chris Gibbs, Kirsty Godso, and Fred North, expanding the project into a broader reflection on the city and its culture.

At HVW8 Gallery, the exhibition translates the 24 hour structure into an immersive environment, bringing together photography, installation, and sound to mirror the energy and pace of Los Angeles.

EXHIBITION DETAILS
April 17th – May 17th
HVW8 Gallery
Los Angeles

OPENING NIGHT
April 16th, 6–10pm
RSVP Here

BOOK DETAILS
24H Los Angeles 10 Year Anniversary Edition
180 pages | 20 x 27 cm | Limited Edition | 2026

ABOUT KARL HAB
Karl Hab is a French photographer based between Paris and Los Angeles. Known for his distinctive use of color, light, and urban perspective, his work captures cities through both aerial and street-level viewpoints. His photographs have been featured in Highsnobiety, Hypebeast, and other global publications. Since the original release of 24H Los Angeles in 2016, he has continued the 24H series across multiple cities and exhibited internationally, including at HVW8 Gallery and The Standard Hotel. His work reflects an ongoing exploration of movement, atmosphere, and the visual identity of contemporary cities.

CONTACT
contact@karlhab.com
info@hvw8.com
@karlhab
@hvw8gallery

with support from adidas Originals

Press Release

 

MIKE MILLER • BOOK SIGNING

MIKE MILLER • BOOK SIGNING
Saturday, April 4 • 2–5 PM

Join us for the final weekend of Outtakes & Icons, Four Decades with legendary photographer Mike Miller. Meet the artist and get your book signed.

HVW8 Gallery Los Angeles

661 N. Spaulding Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036

RSVP: rsvp@hvw8.com

The Skateboard Life — Book Signing & Holiday Sale

The Skateboard Life Book Signing & Holiday Sale
This Sunday, December 14 · 2–5pm · HVW8 Los Angeles

Join us this Sunday for a special afternoon celebrating the publication of The Skateboard Life. Author Dr. Neftalie Williams, PhD, will be in attendance for a live book signing, alongside a holiday sale at the gallery.

Come hang with Tyler Gibney, of HVW8 Art + Design Gallery in Los Angeles and Berlin, and Dr. Neftalie Williams, as we bring together the skateboarding and art community for an afternoon event.

The Skateboard Life is a vibrant, visual celebration of skateboarding, featuring more than 65 profiles of the sport’s most influential figures, from legends like Tony Hawk, Paul Rodriguez, Vanessa Torres, and Kareem Campbell, to Olympians Nyjah Huston and Sky Brown. The book also highlights artists such as Mark McKee, Spike Jonze, and Glen E. Friedman, along with cultural leaders and activists including Briana King, Amelia Brodka, and Leo Baker.

Signed copies will be available and make a perfect holiday gift.

We’ll also have select pieces, prints, and ephemera available at special holiday pricing.

Drinks and music are on the house.
We look forward to seeing you.

HVW8 Gallery Los Angeles
661 N. Spaulding Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036

Skateboard Culture Book Launch and Photo Exhibition

Skateboard Culture

Book launch, capsule collections & photo exhibition at HVW8 Gallery.

The “Skateboard Culture” US Tour lands in Los Angeles at HVW8 Gallery, with the American edition of the book, exclusive capsules and a photo exhibition dedicated to skate culture.

After New York, Skateboard Culture continues its US Tour in Los Angeles.
For one week, HVW8 Gallery hosts a special installation dedicated to the American edition of our landmark book, bringing together photography, imagery and memorabilia that trace the evolution of skateboard culture.
Explore the exhibition and discover exclusive capsule collections specifically crafted for the event.
Los Angeles is one of the spiritual homes of skateboarding — And HVW8 gallery has always carried that torch.

What to expect
-Presentation of the American edition of Skateboard Culture with the authors Morgan Bouvant and Sébastien Carayol, hosted by Tyler Gibney.
-Exclusive capsule collections & collaborations.
-Photo exhibition inside HVW8 Gallery by William Sharp, Jessica Bard, Spike Jonze, Fred Mortagne, Anthony Acosta.
-A meeting point for skaters, artists, brands and friends of the culture.
-Dj Set

Thanks to our partners :
Vans, Element, Topologie, Arizona & Ten Speed.

RSVP Here

HVW8 Gallery Los  Angeles
661 N Spaulding Ave, Los Angeles, CA
Bring your friends
https://www.instagram.com/skateboard_culture/
https://www.instagram.com/hvw8gallery/

 

Rum Punch Riddim Fundrasier

Rum Punch Riddim — fundraiser supporting Jamaican youth impacted by Hurricane Melissa.
This Thursday, Nov 20 at HVW8 Los Angeles.

Art, music, dancing, and community.
DJs: Silent Addy, Disco Neil, B4BY Lexi
Limited-edition prints: Nabil Elderkin (pictured), B+, Savannah Baker.

All proceeds benefit the St. Mary’s Youth Association. @smya.inc

7–10pm
661 N Spaulding Ave, LA
RSVP here.

 

HVW8 Origins – Montréal 1998

HVW8 was born in Montréal, Quebec, in 1998 as a Bauhaus-inspired collective. Fresh out of Concordia University with a BFA in Design, Tyler Gibney was working from a studio just off St. Catherine St. and Rue St-Alexandre when he connected with artists Gene Pendon, Dan Buller, and a group of like-minded creatives. Together, they built HVW8 (Heavyweight Production House) – a collective blending painting, music, and design, a space where collaboration and experimentation could thrive.

From underground parties and music shows to posters, club flyers, videos, graffiti, art installations, and street-style campaigns, HVW8 tapped into a growing artistic community of producers, DJs, musicians, filmmakers, and other creatives.

For nearly 30 years, we’ve pushed the boundaries of art and design – from Montréal to Los Angeles, Berlin, and beyond. HVW8 is a  nearly 30-year art project in and of itself.

As HVW8 approaches its 30th milestone, we’ll look back with images and anecdotes highlighting past exhibitions, events, and projects that have shaped our journey.

 

‘RHODA’ by Kal Banx

HVW8 Gallery Presents
‘RHODA’ by Kal Banx

“I made this project during a time I was rediscovering what home meant to me. Grief puts certain things into perspective—you don’t even realize what’s there until it’s gone. I realized that home wasn’t just a place, but a collection of feelings and experiences.

A conversation with my dad about the matriarch of our family shifted my perspective and connected me to stories of how we even came to be here. From that point, I began to see things differently—that’s what made RHODA.”
—Kal Banx

This Saturday, 08/30 · 4–8 PM
Very limited space – RSVP 

A visual and intimate experience based on the album RHODA, including an artist talk with Kal Banx, a conversation and Q&A with his therapist @syreetabmft, audience questions on the album, and sounds by @joaqu.n.

Part of HVW8’s ongoing exploration of art and music, creating space for emerging voices.

Alfredo 2 with Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist

Tonight – Alfredo II with @freddiegibbs and @alanthechemist

Installation and movie screening directed by @nickwalkerstudio
Artwork by @filipp_jenikae
Full album listening
Capsule @babylon.la

HVW8 Los Angeles
661 N. Spaulding Ave, 90026
6–10 pm

This event is free and open to the public.
RSVP at RSVP@alfredostokyo.com
Please note: RSVP does not guarantee entry.

“As it Was” is a group show

A particularly inparticular group show featuring photography by Berlin-based artists.

Opening: June 27, 4–10 PM 

“As it Was” is a group show about nothing in particular, other than the particularities of that life that are luckily captured by the camera and the people behind them. Featuring three Berlin-based photographers whose work finds the stories of people, the flow of life, and the things in between, capturing it all, just as it was

Agatha Powa is showing a collection of film portraits taken between 2017 and now. Different women. Different stories. One lens, infinite expressions.

Kieran Loftus (Philadelphia, USA) will be showcasing a “best of” selection of his photography from the past several years; 100+ images of nothing and everything, with something for everyone.

Sara Casella has rounded up a collection of images shot here, there and everywhere that tune into the absurdity of life and all its heroes. Like everything, it’s so random

For the opening event on June 27 from 4 to 10 PM they’ll be joined besties Antilles NY and BARE WINES, who’ve got food and wine on lock. 

Antilles NY is a Berlin-based interdisciplinary studio that specializes in design and research rooted in the Caribbean. For its first collaboration with HVW8 Gallery, Antilles NY will be serving 100% authentic doubles—a vegan, Trinidadian street food topped with cucumber chutney, tamarind sauce, and all the pepper you can handle. 

Bare Wines is a Berlin-based natural wine platform producing + selling natural wines and host to pop-ups rooted in community, creativity, and good, clean wine. As many times before here at HVW8, they’ll be bringing a tight selection of natty wines, including their latest release a nameless 2020 Sauvignon Blanc, and good vibes. We’ll spare the specs here, just as them at the table. 

The show will be on view until Sunday, June 30.

For inquiries please contact: Nico@HVW8.com

Photo: Agatha Powa

Photo: Sara Casella

Photo: Kieran Loftus

LOW-RES[olution] HI[ghly]-DEF[initive] – Glenjamn

Multimedia Exhibition (Photo/Video/Ephemera)

Opening April 9, 2025

After a transcendent experience witnessing Daft Punk at Coachella in 2006, LA-based photographer and videographer Glenjamn vowed never to stop capturing his world. Over the past 15 years, he has become a fixture in nightlife and culture, documenting the rise of LA’s Bloghouse and electronic music scenes, the golden era of Fairfax streetwear, fashion weeks from New York to Paris, and countless festivals, raves, hip-hop, and punk shows around the world. Following the success of his sold-out photo book ‘Glenjamn’—published with the support of Sarah Andelman and Just an Idea—he has transformed his personal moments into immersive art experiences, staging exhibitions in Los Angeles, Seoul, Miami, and Paris within the past year.

Now, he brings it back to where it all began. This exhibition revisits Glenjamn’s Bloghouse photo and video archives from 2006 to 2011, a time when the internet was just coming of age, optimism was high in the Golden Obama years, and LA’s underground was alive with reckless energy. It was an era of terrible outfits, electric dance music, and fleeting moments that turned strangers into lifelong friends, captured through the handshake of a photo or the chaos of his gonzo-style video camcorder.

Exhibition Website

Mr. Cool…

It’s been said that mid-2000s Los Angeles was a Sparks Plus-fueled orgy of Sit-Com stars, Indie Rockers and other assorted, often sexy hipsters, cramming themselves into bars, clubs or any kind of venue with a DJ Booth. Huddled up and canoodling in skinny jeans and American Apparel leggings, ready to be photographed by ever-present party photographers. The music was loud, and the Camel Crushes were free. DJs stood by the dozens, laptops in hand by the turntables, interminably ready to show a pogoing horde of neon carousers how many bangers could be shoehorned into a 25-minute DJ set. In certain parts of Hollywood, the stench of their Red Bull-Vodka spills are still selflessly camouflaging the discreet omnipresence of Human Papillomavirus.

In a quieter part of La La Land, a bashful, bespectacled young man was hoping to find and possibly even photograph some of the action. Having always been a devout fan of music and pop culture in general, this young man wondered if he possessed the confidence to be a part of the exciting new scene he felt emerging all around him. Sometimes thinking “but I’m not cool enough.”

Luckily, one fortuitous Thursday night, the youngster found himself downtown, camera in hand, waiting in line outside a bar named La Cita. Once inside, he was immediately drawn towards a truly perfect DJ set being played from a dark corner of the room. He walked towards a makeshift DJ Booth, anxious to get a few shots of whoever might be generating such undeniable musical combinations.

A sticker-covered MacBook sat atop the IKEA dorm room desk turned DJ booth. Behind it, danced a man – he was quite portly and wildly energetic . It was Dewey Finn, a down-on-his-luck, wanna-be rockstar, masquerading as a prep-school teacher named Ned Schneebly. The young man began to shoot pictures of Dewey and introduced himself as Lawrence.
Dewey quickly recognized Lawrence’s potential, assuring him that he was the Bee’s Knees and the Cat’s Pajamas. Lawrence, using his newfound fearlessness, called Dewey a “fat loser with body odor.” The duo became friends, inspiring one another in many unexpected, often hilarious ways…
Ultimately, they still did NOT win The Battle of the Bands.

Shortly thereafter they decided to pivot. DJ Dewey transformed himself into Thee Mike B who, in 2011, was voted Los Angeles Magazines “Best Club DJ”. These accolades secured him the coveted title of Your Favorite DJ’s Favorite DJ. Which, if  you think about it, is only a compliment if your favorite DJ doesn’t totally fucking suck. Still, a fan is a fan and every little bit of praise helped to muffle his many insecurities
.
Lawrence bravely assumed a new moniker: GLENJAMN. His small frame and peculiar demeanor quickly gained them both unforeseen access to photographing and DJing most of LA’s sickest events, craziest shows and dopest parties.

Glen’s noble spirit had embiggened them both, which led to the advent of NINJAVIDS™, escalating the duo’s access to nearly impossible-to-penetrate DJ booths, VIP areas, and even world-renowned festival stages.

They say even after day 3 of weekend 2 has come to an end, you can still see them at the top of the Ferris wheel, arguing.

Glenjamn is the best. It’s that simple. That is why he is granted access to people and places that are straight up off limits to every other photographer,  journalist or documentarian.
His unique ability to not just document, but truly capture what is cool and special about the music, parties, DJs, shows and most importantly the family and friends that he genuinely loves is impressive and important. IYKYK.

2006-2011 was the best of everything and he clocked it all. I consider myself lucky to have been there for so much of it, spending most of that time alongside him. That. Shit. Was. Craze.
I probably owe him my career and so do countless others. Thank you Glen, thank you for everything.
Let The Children Techno and see ya at the Dafterparty.

THE gl-END

Welcome to Low Res High Def

                 

Rest in Power Roy Ayers

Rest in Power, Roy Ayers! 🕊️

Original artwork for @wax_poetics Roy Ayers cover story, Winter 2004.

Live painting by HVW8 Art Installation (Dan Buller, Gene Pendon, Tyler Gibney) on Saturday, November 29, 2003, at The Goods in Montreal, Quebec. Acrylic on canvas, 72in x 84in (183cm x 214cm).

Your music will live with us forever. 💫❤️🙏

Figure Drawing Session with Brian Lotti

Figure Drawing Session with Brian Lotti

Join us this Sunday, March 9th, for a live model drawing session exploring various techniques to capture the human figure, facilitated by Brian Lotti.

Location: HVW8 Los Angeles, 661 N. Spaulding Ave, 90036
Time: 2:00–5:00 PM

Materials Provided:
Vine charcoal
Pencils
Brush & ink
Only 18 spots available—first come, first served.
RSVP at rsvp@hvw8.com
$20 suggested donation

Noah Davis at the Barbican, London

                                 

Noah Davis, Installation View, Barbican, London, 6 February – 11 May 2025.
Photo: Eva Herzog. (Last two photos courtesy of Tyler Gibney.)

If you’re in London, be sure to visit the incredible Noah Davis exhibition now on display at the Barbican. Noah was a dear friend and a key figure at HVW8, having also exhibited with InnerCity Avant-Garde in 2010. HVW8’s Tyler Gibney contributed images to the exhibition.

Artist talk / Signing / Fundraiser

Please join us this Saturday, January 25th for an end of show Artist Talk/Book Signing/Fundraiser to support Angelenos affected by the recent fires.

In conjunction with @hvw8gallery and local non-profit @havasole we are looking to collect Brand New and Lightly worn sneakers to be distributed directly to victims of the recent fires.

Additionally – 100% of proceeds from the remaining sales of show T-Shirts will go towards Gift Cards for family’s in need. If you cannot attend and would like to be involved, online sales of T-Shirts will also convert to gift cards.

Starting today – you are welcome to drop New Shoes off during the 1-6PM Gallery Hours. *It’s always great to get Women’s and Children’s sizes of fresh sneakers.*

On Saturday:
Donations start at 12pm.
Artist Talk from 1-2pm
Q&A Discussion 2-3pm
Book signing, Live DJ, Hang 3-6pm

Artist Prints Supporting Those Affected by the Fires

Glenjamn LA Support Print

We Love You, Los Angeles

Artist Prints Supporting Those Affected by the Fires

For nearly 20 years, this city has been our gallery’s home. It deeply saddens us to see the recent tragedies affecting our beautiful community.

To help those impacted by the fires, three photographers we work with—Los Angeles-based Glenjamn and Stephen Vanasco, along with Paris-based Karl Hab—have generously donated images for a special print run. These prints reflect Los Angeles’ profound connection to nature and its delicate balance.

Proceeds from these prints, available online and at the gallery, will go directly to support those in need.

Here is the Donation List. Contributions can also be made directly to those on this list. For further information, please email info@hvw8.com.

This weekend, our gallery will be open on Saturday and Sunday, from 1–6 PM, as a space for rest, reflection and connection. Live music and beverages will be provided, and our DJ decks will be open for sharing and gathering.

Take care of yourselves and one another.
Everyone is welcome.

With gratitude,
HVW8 Gallery

 

Stephen Vanasco LA Support Print

Karl Hab LA Support Print

ALL Prints – 11h x 17w in
27.94h x 43.18w cm
Open Edition
Signed COA with the print
Moab Juniper Baryta Rag
• 305 gsm / 16 mil
• No Optical Brightners
• Single Sided
• 100% Cotton
• True Baryta (barium sulfate) coating