NASHVILLE, TENN.- The Frist Art Museum presents OSGEMEOS: In between, an exhibition of sculptures and paintings by the Brazilian artist duo internationally celebrated for their vivid and playful public murals and studio work. The identical twin brothers Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo—OSGEMEOS (the artists’ nom de plume; Portuguese for “the twins”)—create imagery that blends wide-ranging influences, from Brazilian folklore to hip-hop culture. The exhibition is on display in the Frist’s Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery from September 27, 2019, through January 12, 2020.

OSGEMEOS: In between features eight mixed-media paintings and two sculptures. Many of the works are populated with large-headed, long-limbed yellow figures in whimsical settings. The works tell stories—sometimes autobiographical—of fantasy, family, social change, and how tradition and progress coexist in Brazil.

Born in 1974 in São Paulo, the twins have long had a special creative partnership. “As children, they were constantly drawing together and say it was like a religion to them,” writes Frist Art Museum Chief Curator Mark Scala. “They work in harmony, even to the point of having shared dreams that inspire projects.” As teenagers in the mid-1980s, they started creating graffiti together in São Paulo, inspired in part by the international explosion of graffiti and hip-hop culture.

The duo progressed from clandestine work to commissioned outdoor murals and art gallery exhibitions. “During the 1990s, they were in close contact with the American artist Barry McGee, who met the twins while traveling in Brazil and was so impressed with their work that he offered advice on painting techniques and shared photographs of New York graffiti with them. Works like Back in the Days and the large-scale Untitled from 2008, which depict American rather than Brazilian subway cars, likely relate to this early exposure,” writes Scala.

The influence of music is seen throughout the exhibition, from the energetic colored patterns and complex rhythms in O Ferro Velho (The Junkyard) and Viagem Ao Centro De Terra (Travel to the Center of the Earth) to the sound of actual music in Irie Voice, in which round speakers serve as the open mouths of figures singing, creating a multisensory immersive gallery environment.

OSGEMEOS has produced many public projects, creating works on the sides of water towers, in a series of digital animations in New York’s Times Square, and even on the sides of a Boeing 737. “While their reputation in the art world is well established, with works in major private and public collections, OSGEMEOS has never lost sight of their desire to be accessible to wide audiences,” writes Scala. Wherever their works appear, they strive to communicate the value of feeling over reason, to help people “fly away” into a realm of pleasure and childhood delight, if just for a moment.