OSGEMEOS

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.

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 and M. C. Escher.

The twins started out as breakdancers and got involved with graffiti later on. Their first graffiti emulated early New York City hip hop pieces. 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.

In 2008, OSGEMEOS painted several works in Mumbai, India; many of were still visible in 2016. More recently, OSGEMEOS exhibitied at Art Basel in Hong Kong through the Lehmann Maupin gallery.

OSGEMEOS painted a 16 m by 10 m mural in the centre of Heerlen, 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 in London, for the three month duration of the exhibition. 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. 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; Milan, Italy; Malaga, Spain and Berlin, Germany.

Their first solo exhibition the United States was held at the Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco, California 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 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. One of their works is a wall in Miami, Florida painted for Art Basel Miami Beach. Other cities include Boston and Los Angeles. 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. Meanwhile, The Boston Globe considered it to be a successful public artwork. In 2014, OSGEMEOS created their largest piece to date, titled "Giants," for the Vancouver Biennale in Vancouver, Canada on six industrial silos. Large and expensive, the work is notable in that it was paid for through crowdfunding. In 2013, they collaborated with luxury brand Louis Vuitton to design a scarf, alongside artist Retna and Lady Aiko. 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.