Eye of Art #14 : OSGEMEOS

I'm huge fan of their works... OSGEMEOS, twin brothers from the Cambuci district in São Paulo (Brazil) have succeeded to have the recognition of general public and still the respect of street as pionners of street-art as we know today. They're actives for more than 25 years, from São Paulo's walls to Art Basel and galleries with their last exhibition at Lehmann Maupin at Hong-Kong.

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Hip Hop Mural, on the 14th street between 6th and 7th, New-York, 2017

In the last Juztapox, there is an excellent interview, from their beginnings to their international careers.

WHO

OSGEMEOS (THETWINS in English) are the twin brothers, Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo, born in 1974 in São Paulo (Brazil). In the 1980s, the two brothers played in the street and discovered Hip Hop with Bboys* (breakdancing). At home, they used to draw everytime encouraged by their parents.

In 1994, they met Barry Mcgee, street artist from San Francisco, and Margaret Kilgallen who were in residency in São Paulo for nine months. As they didn't speak English, it was their mother who did the traduction.

LACMA parking garage, Barry Mcgee

LACMA parking garage, Margaret Kilgallen

With Barry Mcgee, they became very closed. He showed them how to tag, how to do stickers... and also graffiti magazines. When he came back to California, he introduced them to Luggage Store Gallery (San Francisco) and New Image Art (Los Angeles). In 1997, Allen Benedict from 12ozProphet and Caleb Neelon, artist and writer based in Cambridge (US) interviewed OSGEMEOS, first recognition in Europe and internationally.

One of my favorite piece of work, for 2014 Vancouver Biennale, 20 meters high and over 2,000 m² on 6 silos.

Now, OSGEMEOS do still graffiti but also shows with various technique (painting, drawing, sculpture) in gallery like their last exhibition Déjà vu in Hong-Kong (March 26 – May 12, 2018).

I hope that one day they'll stop in Montreal and make a beautiful mural here.

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Collaboration with Agency 9ine and GOL, plane, 2014

And why the color Yellow ?
For them, yellow is a spiritual color because when they :

"were drawing at their mother's house, the sun would come through the windows and the studio would become yellow" - OSGEMEOS, Juxtapoz, Summer 2018

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Parallel Connection, Times Square Midnight Moment, August 1 2015

WHAT

In Hong-Kong, last May, Lehmann Maupin presented Déjà vu with new paintings and sound installation for a multi sensory experience, especially with White Carnival, speakers painted in order to form a choir.