Os Gemeos' Favorite Projects

This feature is a part of Complex's Os Gemeos Week, presented by Hennessy.

The brothers of Os Gemeos have done a number of top tier collaborations and projects throughout the years, where they've experimented beyond paint on walls. They've adorned spraycans, made inflatable balloons and puppets, and done films for musicians. Their connection with nature and their roots in Sao Paulo have been central to their output. Enjoy Os Gemeos' Favorite Projects as an introduction to their work beyond their beginnings in street art.

Please visit Hennessy.com on Aug. 15th for more information on Os Gemeos and their limited-edition V.S bottle collaboration.

Location: Athens, Greece
Year: 2004

"In 2004, the Hellenic Olympic Committee invited one artist to represent each of the five continents for the Olympic Games in Greece. We were chosen to represent the Americas. The Committee separated two groups of five artists, and each one was asked to paint the side of a building in Athens. Our idea was to paint a giant named the Giant of Volos. This was the first giant that we painted on the facade of a building, and it inspired us to create this type of work all over the world. We would ideally love to have a giant in every city and country around the world."

Location: Brazil
Year: 2007-ongoing

"A few years ago we dreamed of a project where we could convince the owners of the public transportation companies in Brazil to let graffiti artists paint whole trains without restrictions or penalties. In 2007, we finally had a chance to realize the project in collaboration with our friend and graffiti artist ISE. The first whole train was painted in Sao Paulo.

Despite a few issues along the way, we achieved our goal to paint trains without restrictions. Due to the success of the first train, we decided to expand the project to many other cities, like Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Natal, Joao Pessoa and Vitoria, where we worked with many other artists and friends."

Location: Sao Paulo
Year: 2008

"Our passion for music guided us to create Fermata, an exhibition where the female face would conduct the orchestra. This show happened in 2011 and combined segments of everything that we have ever produced in one place.

The location of the Vale Museum, which is by the sea, gave us a lot of inspiration because we have a very strong connection with the ocean. We included pieces from the sea in one of the rooms in the exhibition: 'What the ocean brings back is yours.'"

Location: Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Brasilia
Year: 2009-2010

"Vertigem (Portuguese for 'Vertigo') was our first traveling museum exhibition that took place in four cities in Brazil. It kicked off in Curitiba (south of Brasilia) in 2008 at the Oscar Niemeyer Museum. Then it went to Bank of Brazil Cultural Center in Rio de Janeiro. The first two exhibitions were smaller, so when Vertigem arrived in Sao Paulo at the Museum of Brazilian Art, it had to take on different proportions to fill the larger rooms and satisfy an even bigger crowd. We could finally put everything we had created together in one place in a way that it was complete and in perfect harmony. Vertigem headed to its last destination in 2010, in the capital of Brazil, Brasília. We have no doubt that this was one of the biggest exhibitions of our career and that it opened the door that we needed for our next museum show, Fermata."

Year: 2010

"On a trip to New York years ago, we watched an inspiring movie on the airplane called Alegria (Joy). A few days later while walking on the subway platform, we found a newspaper lying on the ground with a photo of [the Russian performance artist] Slava [Polunin] and information about Slava's Snow Show that was playing on Broadway. There was a connection between the visual language in the film and the images we saw in the newspaper, so we decided to see the show. That was the first time we saw Slava onstage, and we were simply delighted, mainly because we could relate, in many ways, our universe with his.

Years later, Slava and his family visited Brazil and saw our work for the first time. We were finally able to meet and instantly became great friends. He invited us to spend time at his house in France to create a very special project. Soon after, we went on tour with his show to Hawaii, Saint Petersburg, and Moscow. We also went to the festival that takes place annually in the Nevada desert called Burning Man.

This animation collaboration arose from the idea of the producer Gwenael Allan to entwine our universes in a 45-second-long animated video. This once again gave us the opportunity to spend time and work with an artist who became part of our family.

Recently, Slava returned to Brazil and invited us to create an installation in the theater lobby for the premiere of Slava's Snow Show in Rio de Janeiro and in Sao Paulo."

Location: Barcelona, Spain
Year: 2005

"Since our first visit to Barcelona in 1999, we became good friends with the Montana Family and have been watching the brand's evolution in the spray can market. We have a great respect for Montana's ideas and the quality of their products.

This collaboration started with the idea of creating a drawing to illustrate a limited edition spray can, which is one of the products that we use the most in our work. Because of our respect and familiarity with the product this was a very fun collaboration."

Location: Sao Paulo
Year: 2009

"Created in 1976, Plasticiens Volants is a group located in the southwest of France that produces giant inflatable puppets and balloons. These giant characters have flown in various urban spaces and have been used to tell the most beautiful stories.

Our first contact with Plasticiens Volants happened through an invitation to participate in the Cultura Nova Festival in Heerlen, Netherlands. The curator of the festival introduced us to the group, and together we had the idea for a project in our hometown."

"In November 2009, the Anhangabaú Valley in Sao Paulo became the scene of the tale of the Estrangeiro (Foreigner), where the central character was a 20-meter high giant 20 that we created. We painted this same character on the side of one of the buildings at the site. In the story, the Foreigner is lost in a strange place and, with the help of other characters, he is introduced into a world full of adventures and lessons.

"This piece was part of a larger cultural program that celebrated the Year of France in Brazil. The most exciting part for us was to see the reaction of the public as our Giant from the wall became three-dimensional and magically interacted with them."

Location: Sao Paulo and Los Angeles
Year: 2012

"Roger Waters is someone who has influenced us since we were very young, and his album with Pink Floyd, The Wall, continues to be an inspiration. We met Roger Waters very naturally on a visit to our hometown, São Paulo. He asked us to be involved in The Wall tour and to paint the Flying Pig. We were able to participate on the tour in Sao Paulo as well as Los Angeles.

This was one of the most special projects that we have ever done. This connection of our universes was very spontaneous, and Pink Floyd will always be a huge influence on our lives."

Location: Wuppertal, Germany
Year: 2006

"In 2006, artists from around the world were invited to the city of Wuppertal, Germany to live together and develop artistic projects, decorating the city without permission from local authorities. After about a week studying the sites, system structure, and citizens, we created an installation for a local park that was removed in four days.

In partnership with the Brazilian artist Nina, we also developed a unique and very special project for a decommissioned underground subway tunnel from the Deutsche Bahn AG Train Company of Germany. The subject matter was composed of paintings based on the Second World War. The tunnel from end to end on both sides was one kilometer in length. We purposely used special fire torches and no artificial light to create the works. We listened to Pink Floyd while we were painting."

Location: Sao Paulo
Year: 2008

"In 2008, backed by the Brazilian cultural organization, Itau Cultural, the musician Siba from the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, released his album Every time I take a step the world changes place. We created the set and backgrounds for the Siba performances and became the artistic directors of this CD/DVD. Edson Natalie, the Music Department Manager of Itaú Cultural, had the idea to mix both universes and invited us to create pieces to cover the floor, wall, and ceiling of the set. We filled the set with doors painted with characters and details inspired by Siba's album Every time I take a step the world changes place.

For us, this collaboration was the perfect match, and it gave us the opportunity to learn about Nazaré da Mata: the cultural cradle of Maracatu, a Brazilian music style. As an extension of the project, we spent one week creating artworks that became part of the rural and cultural context of this small town."