OSGEMEOS
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OSGEMEOS (also known as Os Gemeos or Os Gêmeos, Portuguese for ''The Twins'') are identical twin street artists Otavio Pandolfo and Gustavo Pandolfo (born 1974). They started painting graffiti in 1987 and their work appears on streets and in galleries across the world.


Style

Their work has been described as "escapist fantasies," notable for its dreamy, illustrative, and patterned style. Observers have compared this dream-like aesthetic to the works of
Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (; ; born Jheronimus van Aken ;  – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch people, Dutch painter from Duchy of Brabant, Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, gene ...
and
M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; ; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made woodcuts, lithography, lithographs, and mezzotints, many of which were Mathematics and art, inspired by mathematics. Despite wide popular int ...
. Their work often features yellow-skinned characters—taken from the yellow tinge both of the twins have in their dreams—but is otherwise diverse and ranges from tags to complicated
mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...
s. Subjects range from family portraits to commentary on São Paulo's social and political circumstances, as well as
Brazilian folklore Brazilian mythology is a rich and diverse part of Brazilian folklore with cultural elements, comprising folk tales, traditions, characters, and beliefs. The category is representative of Brazil’s greater culture, being a melting pot of Iberic ...
. Their graffiti was influenced by both traditional hip hop and Brazilian culture.


Influences

The twins started out as
breakdancer Breakdancing or breaking, also called b-boying (when performed by men) or b-girling (women), is a style of street dance originated by African Americans and Puerto Ricans in The Bronx borough of New York City. Breakdancing consists mainly of ...
s and got involved with graffiti later on. Their first graffiti emulated early New York City hip hop pieces. It was some years before they began to put Brazilian cultural elements and influences into their graffiti. Their first significant artistic influence outside their immediate environment, and their limited access to American hip hop (''
Style Wars ''Style Wars'' is a 1983 American documentary film on hip hop culture, directed by Tony Silver and produced in collaboration with Henry Chalfant. The film has an emphasis on graffiti, although bboying and rapping are covered to a lesser extent ...
'', ''
Subway Art ''Subway Art'' is a collaborative book by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant, which documents the early history of the New York City graffiti movement. Originally published in 1984, the book has been described as a "landmark photographic history ...
'', ''
Beat Street ''Beat Street'' is a 1984 American dance drama film featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Set in the South Bronx, the film follows the lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends, all of whom are devoted to vari ...
''), stemmed from a chance encounter with
Barry McGee Barry McGee (born 1966) is an American artist. He is known for graffiti art, and a pioneer of the Mission School art movement. McGee is known by his monikers: Twist, Ray Fong, Bernon Vernon, and P.Kin. Life and education Barry McGee was born in ...
(also known as Twist), who was in Brazil for several months on a study abroad program through the
San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a Private college, private art school, college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mis ...
in 1993. Technique and experience were shared, and McGee provided photographs of American graffiti. Through McGee, OSGEMEOS met Allen Benedikt (founder of ''12oz Prophet Magazine'' and also part Brazilian), who together with Caleb Neelon (also known as Sonik) was the first to interview them after a trip to Brazil in 1997 (in ''12oz Prophet Magazine'' Issue 6; 1998), which became OSGEMEOS' introduction to audiences outside of
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
.


Notable public works


Brazil

There have been many works by OSGEMEOS made in Brazil. As of the early 2000s a couple of graffiti artists, OSGEMEOS included, were invited to paint trains legally. This raised OSGEMEOS' profile, helping them transition to large-scale public commissioned work, such as murals (for example the
Paulista Avenue Paulista Avenue (Avenida Paulista in Portuguese language, Portuguese, ''Paulistas, Paulista'' being the demonym for those born in the state of State of São Paulo, São Paulo) is one of the most important avenues in São Paulo (city), São Paulo, ...
mural). In 2009, they painted a mural in Vale de Anhangabau, São Paulo, commissioned by the SESC Brazil. Titled "The Foreigner," the piece was originally scheduled to be shown for thirty days, but public approval allowed it to remain until the demolition of the building in 2012. For the
2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...
in Brazil, the duo were commissioned to decorate the national soccer team's official
Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...
aeroplane. The project used over 1,200 cans of spray paint to depict the diversity of Brazilian culture.


Asia

In 2008, OSGEMEOS painted several works in
Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
, India; many of were still visible in 2016. More recently, OSGEMEOS exhibited at Art Basel in
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
through the
Lehmann Maupin David Maupin is an American art dealer. With Rachel Lehmann, he opened the Lehmann Maupin gallery in SoHo, Manhattan, in October 1996. Before opening Lehmann Maupin, Maupin was the director of Metro Pictures. Early life and education Born in Ca ...
gallery.


Europe

OSGEMEOS painted a 16 m by 10 m mural in the centre of
Heerlen Heerlen (; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the third largest settlement proper in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Measured as municipality, it is the f ...
, the Netherlands. This painting was part of the cultural festival Cultura Nova. It was the inspiration for the large opening act where the head character came to life in association with the French group La Plasticiens Volant. The show "L'Etranger" premiered on 29 August 2008 and was one-off seen at Cultura Nova. The wall painting continues to be preserved and is shown on the Schelmenhofje in Heerlen, the Netherlands. In 2008 OSGEMEOS painted six large-scale murals on
Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...
in London, for the three month duration of the exhibition.
Lisbon, Portugal Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
also features many works by OSGEMEOS. In 2010 and 2011, OSGEMEOS painted two large-scale murals on the sides of buildings. The project was planned by a public private commission and is considered representative of the Portuguese-Brazilian cultural relationship. OSGEMEOS participated in the Vulica Brasil mural festival in
Minsk, Belarus Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administrative centre of Minsk region ...
in 2015 and 2017. This is a cross-cultural mural festival that is "organized with the official support of the Embassy of Brazil in Belarus, the Minsk City Executive Committee, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus and the Leninsky District Administration of Minsk". The festival features artists from Brazil and Belarus collaborating on mural productions in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk. Other cities in Europe which feature the work of OSGEMEOS include
Vilnius, Lithuania Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
;
Milan, Italy Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
; Malaga, Spain and
Berlin, Germany Berlin ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of ...
.


North America

Their first solo exhibition the United States was held at the
Luggage Store Gallery The Luggage Store Gallery, also known as 509 Cultural Center, is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary arts organization founded in 1987, and has two venues located in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The organization has sp ...
in
San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
in spring 2003 and was titled "Pavil" (or "Wick"); they also created a 25-foot by 15-foot mural on the side of the Luggage Store Gallery building on Market Street. As part of the Dreamland Artist Club 2005 project, they painted a 130-foot mural in
Coney Island Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to ...
on Stillwell Ave. In 2009, OSGEMEOS painted their first mural in Manhattan on the northwest corner of Houston Street and the Bowery. The colorful, fantastic, and imaginative composition was compared to a work of
magical realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical rea ...
. One of their works is a wall in
Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
painted for Art Basel Miami Beach. Other cities include Boston and Los Angeles. In 2012, OSGEMEOS painted a 70-foot by 70-foot public mural in Dewey Square in
Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, which received public backlash. The piece, created in collaboration with the ICA and Rose F. Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, depicted a young, yellow figure with its face wrapped in a red shirt. On a segment for Fox 25 News, commentators linked the image to racially charged, post-
9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
fears of
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
. Meanwhile, ''
The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' considered it to be a successful
public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...
work. As the original commission was only temporary, the work was removed on schedule in 2013. In 2014, OSGEMEOS created their largest piece to date, titled "Giants," for the Vancouver Biennale in
Vancouver, Canada Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The Me ...
on six industrial silos. Large and expensive, the work is notable in that it was paid for through
crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...
.


Fine art

OSGEMEOS have exhibited fine art pieces across the world, including paintings,
sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
s, installations, drawings, and performance pieces. In 2013, they collaborated with
luxury Luxury may refer to: *Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises *Luxury tax, a tax on products not considered essential, such as speedboats or diamonds. **Luxury tax (sports), a ...
brand
Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier SAS, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ...
to design a scarf, alongside artist
Retna RETNA (born Marquis Lewis 1979) is a contemporary artist, primarily recognized for graffiti art. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and started his career in the early 1990s. He developed a distinctive constructed script which i ...
and
Lady Aiko Aiko Nakagawa (born 1975), known as Lady Aiko or AIKO, is a Japanese street artist based in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. She is known for her ability to combine western art movements and Eastern art, eastern technical, artistic skills, as well a ...
. In 2016, an Untitled 2009 piece from OSGEMEOS sold for over $300,000 at market. In Chelsea New York, a portrait of the twins was commissioned by a NYC street art program the New Allen. Painted by Jorit Agoch, the work can be found on Allen Street in Chelsea, NYC.


Exhibitions (selected)

* 2007!: ''Waking Up Nights'', de Pury & Luxembourg, Zurich. * 2007: ''Still on and non the wiser'', Von der Heydt-Museum, Kunsthalle Barmen, Wuppertal DE. * 2008: ''fresh air smells funny'', Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche, Osnabrück DE. * 2008: ''Call it what you like!'', KunstCentret Silkeborg Bad DK. * 2010: ''Pra quem mora lá, o céu é lá - Berardo Museum'' Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art, Lisbon * 2010: ''Nos de um anjo'', Galleria Patricia Armocida, Milano * 2011: ''Street Art – meanwhile in deepest east anglia, thunderbirds were go…'', Von der Heydt-Museum, Kunsthalle Barmen, Wuppertal DE. * 2012: ''OSGEMEOS, Miss You'', Prism, West Hollywood, CA * 2012: ''OSGEMEOS'', ICA - Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Boston, MA * 2014: ''OSGEMEOS. A Ópera Da Lua'', Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo * 2024-2025: ''OSGEMEOS: Endless Story'',
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed ...
(part of
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
), Washington DC


Films

* ''
Bomb It ''Bomb It'' is an international graffiti and street art documentary directed by Jon Reiss that premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Filmed on five continents, featuring cities such as New York, Cape Town, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Tokyo ...
'' (2007) by
Jon Reiss Jon Reiss is a film producer and director, and an author. He has made the feature film '' Cleopatra's Second Husband'' (1998) and the documentaries ''Better Living Through Circuitry'' (1999) and ''Bomb It'' (2007). He has directed music vid ...


References


Further reading

* * * * * Assum Preto, 2008
Libri Aparte


External links

* {{Authority control 1974 births Living people Brazilian graffiti artists Identical twins Brazilian twins