OS GEMEOS

“These things are possible, and they can be done.”

Five days before their exhibit opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Os Gemeos—Portugese for “the twins”—came across some discarded wood and decided to create a brand new piece, The Last Station of Spring, which they finished … in four days. It’s exactly this sort of resourceful ingenuity that got these Brazilian street artist brothers their start in São Paulo, where they needed to “improvise as a daily strategy,” as Pedro Alonzo, an ICA adjunct curator, puts it.

In High Seas Everybody Flies, 2008

Now, Otávio and Gustavo Pandolfo’s signature yellow-faced, hooded characters and late ‘80s hip-hop driven graffiti stand alone at their first solo U.S. museum exhibition.

Os Gemeos aim to inspire and eliminate anxiety—in one piece, a house is burning, yet one man prays while the other happily strums guitar. Constants throughout the exhibit are a deep knowledge of graffiti’s history, depictions of houses, open doors, and even open faces, which hint at the twins’ desire to reveal an inside world.

Words across one piece translate to “Everything imaginary exists and is as such.”

Os Gemeos and the Revere Hotel

Though street art in Boston once seemed imaginary in itself, Greenway Executive Director Nancy Brennan worked with the ICA and Os Gemeos, allowing the artists to paint a 4,900 square-foot mural in Dewey Square. Brennan says she hopes the piece stays many months past the exhibit’s end. Additionally, Os Gemeos painted what appears to be a self portrait on the side of the Revere Hotel.

The two outdoor pieces show the twins’ mastery of scale and are considered a part of the ICA exhibit.