We are pleased to present A ópera da lua [The moon opera], the new solo exhibition by the duo OSGEMEOS at Galpão Fortes Vilaça. The show features about thirty paintings, three sculptures and a 3-D video installation. Those works are presented in an immersive environment, where their narrative world takes on a new dimension.
Throughout their artistic career, OSGEMEOS have resorted to a variety of techniques and supports either concurrently or alternately, ranging from drawing to graffiti and mural paintings, from painting to kinetic images, sculptures and installations. Their work has a fantastic nature, like a kaleidoscope where images from different origins, with surreal elements, are overlaid and reflected on a multicolored palette.
The duo’s immediately recognizable style is characterized by their singular characters, who inhabit an oneiric world in counterpoint with the city that serves as their support and inspiration. In narratives that can be poetic, ironic or critical, the artists combine many details in a meticulous construction of images.
Excessiveness is a fundamental element in the transcendence from the real to the imaginary. In this aspect the work of OSGEMEOS is related with that of other artists like Yayoi Kusama, for her obsessive use of patterns, and Takashi Murakami for his emphasis in the detailing of the characters. Their kinetic sculptures, as full of details as their paintings, recallTinguely’s experiments and nonsense machines. Their large panels and murals echo the Mexican muralists with their vibrant colors and characters from popular culture.
The migration of the OSGEMEOS’s work to museums and galleries has allowed the artists to add light, sound and movement to their artworks, as seen in their first solo show in São Paulo, at Galeria Fortes Vilaça, in 2006. In A ópera da lua, the artists give a special focus on sculpture, bringing their experience with paintings into the third dimension. Doors and windows are used to connect the artworks, constructing a large immersive environment. The paintings take unexpected shapes and dimensions; explore new contexts for the characters, new stories, textures and patterns in profusion.
The duo OSGEMEOS is formed by brothers Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo, born in 1974 in São Paulo, where they live and work. They have participated in various important exhibitions and have shown at prestigious venues that most notably include: ICA – The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USA (2012); Fermata, Museu Vale, Espírito Santo, Brazil (2011); Museu Colecção Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal (2010); When Lives Become Form: Creative Power from Brazil, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan (2009); Vertigem, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro; and Vertigem, Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Curitiba, Brasil (2008). They have produced outstanding special projects including Wholetrain, São Luís do Maranhão, Brazil (2012) and Street Art, Tate Modern, London, UK (2008). Their works figure in important collections such as those of the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; the Franks-Suss Collection, London, UK, and others.
