OSGEMEOS Finds Their Implausible Childhood Universe in Their Largest U.S. Exhibition to Date — Colossal

As kids in São Paulo, twin brothers Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo invented a universe they referred to as Tritrez. The paranormal place was dwelling to myriad yellow figures with bulbous heads and lanky our bodies and promoted unusual, but pleasant, habits.

“Yellow has been a very spiritual color for us since we started drawing,” the pair advised their gallery, Lehmann Maupin. “When we were drawing at our mother’s house, the sun would come through the windows, and the studio would become yellow. So we always found it mystical, peaceful, and harmonious.” 

Working largely as one with shared goals and the uncanny skill to complete every others’ ideas, the brothers work as OSGEMEOS (beforehand), which interprets to “the twins” in Portuguese. Rooted in graffiti and avenue artwork, their works will probably be on view on the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Backyard later this month for his or her largest U.S. exhibition to this point.

Comprising 1,000 work, sculptures, photographs, and archival objects, OSGEMEOS: Countless Story traces the brothers’ artistic evolution, recreating particulars from their childhood bedrooms and the infrastructure and partitions they painted murals on of their youth. Not often seen sketches and early influences like their mom’s embroideries are on view alongside many items by no means proven exterior their native Brazil.

Hip-hop and breakdancing function prominently in OSGEMEOS’ work, together with within the sprawling set up “Untitled (92 Speakers).” Yellow and brown faces peer out from boxy audio system and congregate collectively on a pastel pink wall. A symmetric gramophone and boombox painted equally stand on the gallery ground beneath and reference the artists’ enduring curiosity in music and its affect on tradition.

Different works lean additional into the sci-fi and supernatural realms. Standing on the heart of 1 gallery is a tall, prismatic sculpture, which depicts considered one of their signature figures encircled by an alien beam projecting from a flying saucer. Likewise, the 2014 portray “Tritez” reveals the extra fantastical particulars of the imagined realm: a blue patchwork whale cradling buildings on its again flies by means of the sky, two siren-like characters dance within the moonlight, and a trio of figures clamber on high of each other in colourful weird clothes.

“Tritrez for us is our soul. It’s our, let’s say, parallel world that we believe (lives) inside of us,” they are saying in a video. “We believe that everybody (has) some kind of Tritrez inside. But sometimes you forget to see and sometimes you are afraid to see.”

The primary monograph of OSGEMEOS’ work written in English accompanies the exhibition, which runs from September 29, 2024, to August 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. There’s far more on the brothers’ Instagram, so head there to dive deeper into their whimsical world.