There are two cool things about Os Gêmeos to share today.
For the hard-core fans of the twins, 12oz Prophet has this video of Os Gêmeos, Raven and Sonik from back in 1997. You’ve got to love the commitment of risking a car crash just to put up a sticker properly. You can read more on the story behind this clip at 12oz Prophet.
12ozProphet Presents… Found Footage: 1997 Brazil Graffiti with Os Gemeos, Raven & Sonik from 12ozprophet on Vimeo.
And for some reason, the Wall Street Journal seems to be really interested street art this month. A few weeks ago, they printed a story about the Banksy and Robbo issue, and this week they have something about Os Gemêos.
From the WSJ:
The 100-foot-tall man painted on the side of a building here in the old downtown looks vaguely familiar, with features reminiscent of the migrants who flock to this city from Brazil’s vast hinterlands.
But his bright yellow skin and matchstick limbs, clothed in threadbare trousers and a psychedelic shirt, stamp him instantly as something else: a character from the dreamlike world of local street artists Otávio and Gustavo Pandolfo.
The 35-year-old identical twins, who call themselves Os Gêmeos (twins, in Portuguese), started out two decades ago as graffiti artists in Cambuci, the poor, working-class neighborhood where they grew up and still work. Today they are the toast of the international street-art scene, with murals on walls and exhibitions in galleries in cities across the world.
“The success is very gratifying, but we do this primarily for ourselves,” says Gustavo in the brothers’ cluttered office overlooking their studio.
Read the rest of the article at the WSJ online, and send a link to all your friends because it just might turn them into Os Gêmeos fans.