The Twins: Biography and Works: The Trajectory of Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo

Working under this name and always together, they conquered the world of graffiti and art, because their distinct style made them the most important and influential graffiti artists of their generation.

"We are complementary: one completes the other's thought at every moment, because our creative process is so natural to us that it's even hard to explain. It seems like there's a thread, we'll always be connected, even when we're far apart. It's an eternal bond." The Twins

The Twins: BIOGRAPHY

Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo were born on March 29, 1974, in the city of São Paulo.

They spent their childhood and adolescence in the Cambuci neighborhood.

In the late 80s, with the emergence and advancement of the hip hop movement in Brazil, the twins were heavily influenced by it, starting as breakdancers and continuing with their first graffiti works.

Their initial street art style was still to be formed, as consistency and artistic references were still lacking, which they later employed.

With this, they showed an incredible versatility in terms of media, using not only spray paint, but also car paint cans and latex paint when suitable materials were lacking for the desired work.

Although the expression was still a bit unstable, the duo proved to be imaginative and highly promising.

In 1993, a meeting with the American artist Barry McGee, also known as Twist, who was involved in a project in São Paulo, sparked a new flame in the artistic views of the brothers.

At the time, the young men were 19 years old and already worked in decorating stores for advertising.

Twist exposed them to many examples of graffiti photographs from the United States, sharing his knowledge of different techniques, important contacts, and other experiences.

In 1995, the opportunity for the first experimental street art exhibition at the Museum of Image and Sound, the important MIS in São Paulo, arose.

As their style matured, The Twins were invited to show their work in Munich, Germany, where they received international attention from other European countries.

In the early 2000s, they were invited to participate in a project to create murals in train stations and metro stations in their state; they even painted a composition on a train, which is not normally done in Brazil.

In 2003, they traveled around the world, maintaining themselves busy in many collaborative street art projects, which were finally followed by their first solo American exhibition at the Baggage Store Gallery in San Francisco, in the United States.

During this period and until the end of the same decade, they began to create studio-oriented art works to be noticed in the contemporary art scene, rather than remaining subversive on walls and building facades.

Their imaginative creations were able to reach additional limits beyond the street, and their art took on a new form, as they began to work on three-dimensional sculptures.

In the 2010s, the twins' popularity increased, and they participated in the Fame Festival in Grottaglie, Italy.

In 2012, they participated in an exhibition at the acclaimed Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, USA.

This is considered by them to be very special, as it was their first solo exhibition.

In 2014, they innovated their art with installations, along with paintings and sculptures, in an illustrious exhibition in their hometown, at the Fortes Vilaça Gallery, in a show titled "The Opera of the Moon".

In the same year, OSGEMEOS created and executed a painting of an airplane in a project by the Gol airline, which transported the Brazilian soccer team during the World Cup.

Today, they are one of the most promising teams of muralists and graffiti artists in the world, constantly participating in a large number of exhibitions.

The public is inclined to appreciate their style with their gigantic yellow characters, funny and grotesque, but also gentle and childlike, symbolic and soft, illuminated with their animated color palette, having an immediate connection with the viewer.

They are present in art fairs, studios, galleries, and still collaborate with other graffiti artists in street mural projects.

These two minds flow artistically, using all colors and flavors of their imagination.

They believe that everything is possible for dreams to become a reality.

The inspiration for design comes from reflections on their inner reality and the surrounding fantasy.

The Twins use the wings of their imagination to fly to exotic destinations and imaginary places that inhabit their minds.

GALLERY

To understand the rest of this journey, continue to our next article: The Twins: Biography and Works: Principal Works and Marked Exhibitions.