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OSGEMEOS

Déjà vu

Hong Kong

Mar 26–May 12, 2018

Installation view of OSGEMEOS at Lehmann Maupin Hong Kong

407 Pedder Building, 12 Pedder Street

Central, Hong Kong

Lehmann Maupin is pleased to announce Déjà Vu, the Brazilian artist duo OSGEMEOS’ first solo exhibition in Hong Kong. Twin brothers Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo together have developed an internationally recognized style born of influences across pop culture, music, folk art, and their vivid inner worlds. Déjà Vu presents new paintings and a sound installation from the highly influential artists who are sought out for numerous high profile collaborations and commissions, transforming buildings and public spaces across Europe, South America, and the United States.

Known internationally for a figurative style that typically features their signature yellow characters, thin dark red outlining, and intricately patterned designs, OSGEMEOS broke onto the art scene during the late 1980s as graffiti writers in their São Paulo neighborhood of Cambuci. Initially influenced by the graffiti movement coming out of New York, they were ultimately inspired by the ingenuity and resourcefulness evident in their working class neighborhood, and sought to make their art accessible to the community as a way to contribute a sense of optimism.

Installation view of OSGEMEOS at Lehmann Maupin Hong Kong
Installation Views: 1 of 5
Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

The layup afternoon train, 2017

Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

The man that has the golden record, 2017

OSGEMEOS

The fishing man, 2017

Installation view of OSGEMEOS at Lehmann Maupin Hong Kong
Installation Views: 1 of 4
Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

Close Encounter of the First Kind, 2017

Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

Procession, 2017

Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

The long way home, 2017

OSGEMEOS

The ocean, 2017

Rug work by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

The valley of the sacred mountain, 2017

Sculpture by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

White Carnival, 2016

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