Skip to content

OSGEMEOS

Portal of Dreams

Seoul

Nov 5–Dec 28, 2024

Painting by OSGEMEOS

213 Itaewon-ro, Yongsan-gu

Seoul, 04349

Lehmann Maupin presents Portal of Dreams, the first solo exhibition in the gallery’s Seoul location by Brazilian artist duo OSGEMEOS. Featuring ten new and recent mixed-media paintings, the exhibition invites viewers into the whimsical world of Tritrez, a dreamworld created by the artists and developed throughout their decades-long career. Concurrent to the exhibition, the artists’ first museum survey in the United States OSGEMEOS: Endless Story is on view at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden through August 3, 2025, and is accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue, published by Rizzoli. This is the artists’ second solo exhibition in Seoul, following OSGEMEOS: You are My Guest at the nearby Storage by Hyundai Card in 2020. 

Growing up in the 1980s in Cambuci, a central district of São Paulo where the brothers still have their studio today, OSGEMEOS launched their careers at a time when the hip-hop movement was flourishing and urban graffiti was reshaping the streets of the city. Surrounded by this dynamic cultural landscape, they embraced the creative possibilities of their environment, setting the stage for their artistic evolution. The brothers immersed themselves in the vibrant hip-hop, breakdancing, and youth culture that thrived in Brazil during the 80's. Among the intricate patterns and vibrant colors that characterize their compositions, the color yellow stands out; it holds great significance for the artists, as they often dream in this vibrant hue. According to the duo, yellow has become a deeply spiritual color for them. While drawing at their parent’s house as young boys, sunlight would filter through the windows, casting a yellow glow over their home studio and creating a serene yet captivating ambiance.

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

OSGEMEOS

Oh my god! I love that, 2023

Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

Sensation, 2024

Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

Father and Son, 2023

Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

The day that the ocean got happy!, 2024

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

OSGEMEOS

Boogie Boys & Dog Boy, 2024

Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

The 24 Hours Theater, 2023

OSGEMEOS

Valkyries, 2024

Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

O Som da Gravidade / The Sound of Gravity, 2022

Painting by OSGEMEOS

OSGEMEOS

Sit down, here comes the story, 2024

OSGEMEOS

Portal of Dreams, 2023

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
Portal of Dreams | Lehmann Maupin