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OSGEMEOS

Palm Beach

Feb 11–Mar 13, 2022

Detail of painting by OSGEMEOS

Lehmann Maupin presents OSGEMEOS’ fourth presentation with the gallery and first in Palm Beach. Recognized for their symbolic visual language often inspired by their similar dreams as twins, Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo offer a new body of work that delves further into their fantasy world.

Active since the 1980s, OSGEMEOS have become internationally known for their distinct figurative style that features long-limbed yellow characters with thin outlines, enlarged faces, and simplified features, as well as for their use of vibrant colors and elaborate patterns. While they have drawn upon New York graffiti movements, the duo has also been inspired by the ingenuity and resourcefulness evident in their working class neighborhood of Cambuci, São Paulo, and sought to make their art accessible to the community. The artists often incorporate images of masks and musical instruments in their work to visualize the folk customs, festivals, and crafts that represent the myriad cultural influences that make up the social and cultural landscape of São Paulo.

Installation view of OSGEMEOS at Lehmann Maupin Palm Beach
Installation Views: 1 of 3
Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

Love is in the air, 2021

Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

The Break Dance Show, 2021

Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

Pupila / Pupil, 2021

Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

Carnival is over, 2021

Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

Summer Time, 2021

Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

Dois Reis Magos (Two Wise Kings), 2020

Portrait of OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS (b. 1974, São Paulo, Brazil; live and work in São Paulo, Brazil), translated as “the twins" in Portuguese, is a collaborative art duo comprised of twin brothers Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo. As children, the brothers developed a distinct way of playing and communicating through artistic language, but it was with the invasion of hip-hop, and the explosion of Brazilian culture during the 1980s that OSGEMEOS began to use art as a way of sharing their dynamic and magical universe with the public. Combining traditional, folkloric, and contemporary elements of Brazilian culture with graffiti, hip-hop, music, dreams and international youth culture, the artists have created an expansive body of work that includes murals, paintings, sculpture, site-specific installations, and video. They use a symbolic visual language often inspired by their dreams that, as twins, they claim to share. In addition to the use of bright colors and elaborate patterns, they are best known for their paintings that feature long-limbed yellow-skinned figures with thin outlines, enlarged faces, and simplified features. The yellow skin color indicates a universal figure, rather than a direct reference to a specific race or culture, which reflects the highly diverse population of Brazil and the world. The use of doors, canvas and mirrors, both literal—painting directly on discarded doors and incorporating reflective surfaces into their works—and as motifs, signal access to another realm or an entry point to the psyche, pulling viewers into their surreal and chimerical world.

Solo exhibitions of OSGEMEOS’ work have been organized by The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C. (2024); Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil - Belo Horizonte, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2023); Centro de arte contemporáneo de Málaga (CAC Málaga), Málaga, Spain (2022); Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Curitiba, Brazil (2021); Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2020); Storage by HyundaiCard, Seoul, South Korea (2020); Fosun Foundation, Shanghai, China (2020); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (2019); The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2018); Museu Casa do Pontal, Rio de Janeiro, (2015); Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA (2012); Berardo Collection Museum, Lisbon (2010); and Museum Het Domein, Sittard, Netherlands (2007).

Learn about the artist