Writer Spotlight: Os Gêmeos
With Writer's Block 2008 still fresh in my mind, I've been reflecting on graffiti styles. I've always liked how different regions of the world seem to have distinct overall styles. I remember distinctly one day about 8 or 9 years ago seeing Sonik 3000 (whom I had the pleasure of meeting briefly at Under Pressure 2004) post some photos he took while in South America on the 12oz Prophet forum. When I saw the work of Os Gêmeos I almost fell off my chair.
Os Gêmeos are twin brothers from São Paulo, Brazil (os gemeos means "twins" in Portuguese). They're masters of both characters and letters but it is their characters which caught my attention the most. I figure you could recreate their style by resurrecting Edward Gorey, feeding him magic mushrooms and making him watch The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen and the Simpsons on repeat for 24 hours.
Though they've been working and well known for years, they deserve heaps of respect for injecting something completely different into the lexicon of graffiti writing. There are ever-growing reams of writers without much diversity in their styles who stick closely to the cookie-cutter aesthetics of the well established wildstyle (thank you Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.)
Os Gêmeos, while sometimes paying homage to wildstyle in their letters, takes off in a completely different direction with total confidence and maturity of style. Even their lettering has more cholo style influence than New York flares and arrows which is always welcome.
