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3.31.25. by JANEL ST. JOHN
When hip-hop broke out in 1973 at DJ Kool Herc’s back-to-school party in the Bronx, New York - it struck like lightning! Suddenly, a powerful, predominantly Black and Latino revolution of DJing, MCing, breakdancing, and graffiti was spreading across the country. No one knew that this ‘street music’ phenomenon would become mainstream. It was debated on Capitol Hill and dissected on 20/20. During hip-hop’s 50-year anniversary in 2023 - which came with media features, concerts and exhibitions - it's legacy was studied and celebrated. Currently, Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us has been streamed 49 million times and broken numerous records. His provocative Superbowl LIX performance has every nationality, race, culture, and creed, dancing to its beat!
What has been studied less, is hip-hop’s global influence and impact on cultures across continents. Until now. The first U.S. museum survey and largest U.S. exhibition of work by Brazilian artists and identical twin brothers, Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo (b. São Paulo, Brazil, 1974) is now on view at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden through August 3, 2025. The world-renowned artists, who were teenage b-boys, are OSGEMEOS – which is Portuguese for “the twins.”
(artwork above: OSGEMEOS and Daze (b. New York City, 1962) "Three Generations," 2024;Acrylic and spray paint on canvas; Courtesy of the artists)
OSGEMEOS: Endless Story consumes the entire third-floor galleries at the Hirshhorn.
Visitors to the museum observe a video wall dedicated to the duo's hip-hop history.
Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo are OSGEMEOS
OSGEMEOS: Endless Story features a thousand works of art, photographs, sculptures, ephemera and site-specific installations that trace the trajectory of Gustavo and Otavio’s multidisciplinary practice. There's giant floor-to-ceiling murals, universal themes, explosions of colour & texture, and a juxtaposition of imaginary and real-life characters, spaces and places. But the music, movement, and moment that animates OSGEMEOS...is hip-hop.
The vibrant, dreamlike world of OSGEMEOS was born from the dynamic intersection of American hip-hop culture and Brazil’s own urban art traditions. Growing up in São Paulo in the 1980s, the brothers were captivated by the energy of breakdancing, DJing, and especially graffiti, which had made its way to Brazil through music videos, magazines, and traveling artists. Inspired by the bold lettering and expressive characters of early hip-hop graffiti, they began tagging city walls as teenagers, developing their own distinct visual language. But rather than simply mimicking American styles, OSGEMEOS infused their work with elements of Brazilian folklore, São Paulo’s chaotic architecture, and their own surreal, dreamlike imagery. Their signature yellow-skinned figures, intricate patterns, and sprawling murals reflect a fusion of global street art traditions and deeply personal storytelling, making their work instantly recognizable and uniquely their own.
From Tha STREETS 2 Tha SUITES
In the same way that hip-hop evolved to become a powerful force in global culture, so did Gustavo and Otavio’s artistic career. Born in a working-class immigrant district, the duo started out writing on the walls of their home and neighborhood. In 1993, their work drew the attention of the American graffiti writer Barry McGee, who was traveling through São Paulo. He introduced them to the international graffiti world.
Many of the paintings in this show depict imagined scenes from the ‘golden age’ of graffiti - the late 1970s and early ‘80s. In "1980" (2020, mixed media with sequins on MDF) above, OSGEMEOS shows three figures writing their tags on a NY train. This work depicts the close friendships among writers who navigate risky situations together, while creating art that is often illegal. Other paintings are OSGEMEOS’s own grafitti in São Paulo.
The graffiti writing soon turned into full walls; the walls evolved into murals; then the murals became gigantic. The twins were invited to Europe in 1998. They described seeing building facades in Germany for the first time, “We saw the possibility to do what we do in big scale.” They created their first giant character in 2004, in Greece, trademarking their signature style. These giant yellow characters, with a large, wide head, long skinny legs, and colorful, patterned clothing, are now all over the world. In 2015, they created a massive mural in New York’s East Village. An homage to hip-hop, the mural incorporates iconic elements from the 1970s hip-hop scene, including a boombox playing Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock.”
OSGEMEOS will inspire you to dance or at least move! This is detail from a huge wall of speaker boxes - a site-specific installation that plays music. “Untitled (92 Speakers)” (2019) “Gramophone” (2016) and “1983 — The Boombox” (2017). (Rick Coulby/Osgemeos)
They couldn't be b-boys without the gear, so creating this Adidas-style tracksuit was a family affair. The brothers showed their grandmother a photograph of LL Cool J and asked if she could sew them a similar outfit. "And she did in two days," remembers Gustavo.
A Celebration of Craft
OSGEMEOS: Endless Story is a massive exhibit. It’s playful, dreamy, aspirational, and probably the most fun you’ll have at a museum show this summer! Curated by Marina Isgro, Hirshhorn associate curator of media and performance art, the show consumes the entire third-floor outer-circle galleries. Yet it’s fitting for a survey that covers the growth of OSGEMEOS’s creative practice, from childhood until now.
There’s so much cool stuff! A wall of vintage album covers reveal their other musical influences - classical, opera, rock, pop, and funk. The Moon Room (2022), features sound, colorful architecture, and custom wallpaper. The Tritrez Altar (2020), is a vast rainbow-colored structure housing sculptures of their characters. There’s also a colossal, handmade zoetrope (2014). The device creates the illusion of motion by rapidly displaying a sequence of still images; a precursor to modern animation and film. There are more than 30 paintings from lenders across the U.S.; a testament to the breadth of the artists’ practice.
OSGEMEOS’s exceptional craftmanship is also on full display. The twins have long-mastered the art of spray paint and the ability to create colorful, razor-sharp lines. They have also hand-applied hundreds of sequins to paintings, creating perfect lines of symmetry and overall pizzazz.
From graffiti artists to the Hirshhorn Museum – OSGEMEOS is a monumental celebration of two siblings who 'started from the bottom…now they’re here!'
(artwork above: Detail. "Someone to Share the Dreams," 2018 Acrylic, spray paint, and sequins on board. Collection of Kambiz Shahbazi and Nazgol Saati; courtesy of Lehmann Maupin, NY, Seoul, and London)
