SITTARD, THE NETHERLANDS.- Museum Het Domein presents Os Gemeos - The flowers in this garden were planted by my grandparents, a solo exhibition Contemporary Art with installations, paintings and murals. 'The flowers in this garden were planted by my grandparents' is the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands of Brazilian twin brothers Os Gemeos. ‘The Twins’ (1974, São Paulo), as their name translates from the Portuguese, are renowned for their colourful and imaginative figurative work on walls and in installations.

In the seclusion of a space, their work reveals a private microcosm. On the street, only fragments of a fascinating imaginative world are visible; in an exhibition context, a three-dimensional installation develops where surrealist landscapes rub shoulders with urban and contemporary archetypes. The characteristic almond-eyed figures seem to have stepped off the walls of a city to meet and narrate the tale of city dwellers in the thrall of the dynamism of the metropolis. Inside, within the space-filling installation, viewers can peer through the walls at an inner world where reality and fantasy merge in a narrative of colour.

Os Gemeos developed their unmistakable style, a fusion of countless influences, through their work as graffiti artists. Brazilian myths, personal family history and people they meet are all vital sources of inspiration. But political themes like homelessness and the war against terror also feature in their work. The brothers list the Russian clown Salve and Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters as inspirations, alongside the popular Brazilian artist Mestre Vitalino (1909-1963) and outsider artist Jose Francisco Borges, a self-taught Brazilian folk artist working in the wood-cut medium.

The catalogue accompanying the exhibition is the first to document the murals produced by the twins over the last few years. The essays are by Renato da Silvaen and Siba Veloso of the Brazilian music and theatre group Siba e a Fuloresta, for which Os Gemeos designed the CD cover and stage decor.

In addition to their street-inspired oeuvre, Os Gemeos (Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo) also studied at the Academy for Design and Communication in São Paulo. In 2005 Deitch Projects in New York presented an exhibition by Os Gemeos. In the same year, Stijn Huijts invited the twins to create a temporary mural in the context of Weird Walls during Cultura Nova in Heerlen. In early 2007 a temporary work was also exhibited in Tilburg during Public Image – Painting the City. In Sao Paolo, they signed to gallery Fortes Vilaça as recently as 2007. In the meantime, Os Gemeos are making furore in the art world and have exhibited widely in various galleries and museums. They also have an impressive list of commissioned murals under their belt.