Lot 24: Os Gêmeos

Untitled This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Galeria Fortes Vilaça.

overall 79 x 88 in. (200.7 x 223.5 cm.)

mixed media on found wood, in 3 parts

2009

Curitiba, Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Vertigem, October 2008- February 2009, then traveled to São Paulo, Museu de arte Brasiliera (October 2009- December 2009), Rio de Janeiro, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (January 2010- March 2010), Brasília, CCBB Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (March 2010- May 2010)

Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo Tiroche DeLeon Collection

"We never do anything twice. We always try out something new and look for new possibilities of expression." Os Gêmeos Brazilian brothers Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo, best known as Os Gêmeos, are a force in graffiti and urban art. They depict their visions in surreal paintings, sculptures, and installations with human figures, exploding bursts of color, and installations with rustic interiors evoking the imagery of the Brazilian countryside. Os Gêmeos draw from their surroundings, incorporating these elements to forge a unique visual style. Their narrative is a creative synthesis of their everyday lives in Brazil, particularly their neighborhood in São Paulo. Common themes in their oeuvre include carnivals, music, and folk art, some of which are often based on the twins’ own photographs. Os Gêmeos date their artistic beginnings to 1987, when hip-hop music gradually became more popular in Brazil. The music and images of youth dancing and spraying graffiti, transmitted through photographs and films, left an indelible mark on the twins. In the late 1980s, Brazilian spray paint was expensive and inferior in quality, leading the artists to improvise with different types of materials. They began executing graffiti and murals with house paint, brushes, and rollers. Today, they are two of the most prominent figures in public art around the world. The present lot, Untitled, exemplifies their quirky style with a depiction of a boy with an innocent expression standing between two found window shutters. Naïve and childlike, the boy can be seen as a depiction of youth in Brazil through a socioeconomic lens. The yellow palette of the boy’s skin, which has become a trademark of their work, is a characteristic the artists identify with positivity. Ultimately, the figure portrays the illusory world that inhabits their creative vision, at once both symbolic and hopeful.