OSGEMEOS reveal their working progress on Chrystie St. building (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
MIDNIGHT MOMENT
Times Square
Nightly at 11:57 through August 31, free
www.timessquarenyc.org
osgemeos slideshow
It’s always ultra-exciting when OSGEMEOS (aka Os Gêmeos) come to town, adding their glorious art to the streets of the city. We’ve been following Brazilian twins Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo since 2005, when we photographed their small piece on a Lower East Side awning, which was followed by their spectacular 2006 Dreamland Artist Club mural on Stillwell Ave. in Coney Island and their equally celebrated 2009 mural on Houston St., which came back for a return engagement this past fall. In their beautifully captivating, visually striking work, OSGEMEOS create a fanciful fairy-tale world marked by unique characters and adorable little details and flourishes.
OSGEMEOS get animated in Times Square (photo courtesy Times Square Arts)
They were recently in the city to unveil their Times Square Midnight Moment animated video, “Parallel Connection,” in which this setting comes to life on electronic billboards, storefront windows, and even the ball drop. It runs every night in August from 11:57 pm to midnight, adding dazzling color to the Great White Way.
OSGEMEOS add some musical flair to Second Ave. (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
While in New York, the twins added some street pieces on the Lower East Side, near their home gallery, Lehmann Maupin. Right next door to the space at 201 Chrystie St., OSGEMEOS have fashioned two playful works, collaborating with French artist JR, whose “Inside Out” participatory project dominated Times Square a few years ago. On the right, a graffiti artist balances on the shoulders of his partner, standing on a metal awning, as the top figure sprays the OSGEMEOS tag on a redbrick wall. Meanwhile, at the upper left, a caricature of JR, in his trademark hat, is on the fire escape landing, brushing a close-up black-and-white photograph of an eye (by JR) onto the building’s facade, a wry comment on all of us looking at the artwork. And on the corner of Second Ave. and Second St., on the side of a building that houses the Hare Krishna temple, OSGEMEOS has painted a giant hip-hop character, carrying a huge boombox as he emerges from the concrete wall like a rainbow superhero. New York City always looks and feels a little better when the twins come around, and this visit is no exception.