Last spring, I visited the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C., a popular contemporary art collection and exhibit space that I’ve frequented. At the time of my visit, the museum had a yearlong, full-floor presentation dedicated to OSGEMEOS, a twin artist duo hailing from Brazil. If you’ve read some of my other articles, you may know that I’m a sucker for disproportionate anatomy — put simply, they’ve mastered this. OSGEMEOS centers much of their work around an imagined universe known as “Tritrez”, which is heavily influenced by urban art, graffiti, American hip-hop symbolism, the natural world, and science fiction. The inhabitants of this dreamscape are yellow figures with small torsos, long legs, and giant heads, colorfully decorated all in the manner of amusingly patterned clothing. Tritrez is a vibrant, soulful, and captivating universe that has come to co-exist on our very own planet through a series of giant murals dispersed internationally. I was fortunate enough to come across a OSGEMEOS mural by chance during a successful layover in Sweden. This mural offered a moment of respite, providing a stark contrast to the Neogothic sprawl of Stockholm, introducing vibrancy to an otherwise matte landscape. More importantly, it got me thinking about how art follows us in ways we don’t suspect.
For me, art has luckily never been an obligation—I’ve practiced it out of sheer enjoyment for creating things that are uniquely my own. Considering this, I now find it unshocking that—as I’ve observed new artists through Artist Spotlights, exhibits I’ve visited, and daily happenings—my personal style has evolved in unprecedented ways. Around the time I wrote about Egon Schiele, I started focusing heavily on the human form and dynamism. When I wrote about Jeffrey Smart, I suddenly took an interest in landscapes and perspective (admittedly, I was quite unsuccessful). Now in the present, the influence of Osgemeos’ uniquely contemporary style has fused into my illustrations in more ways than one. I’ve noticed myself reverting to a caricature style I adopted when I was younger, now incorporating a fusion of my favorite symbols from popular culture and recent life experiences.
In thinking more deeply about the influence of art on modern society, I started to better understand why OSGEMEOS has become a contemporary powerhouse. If you traveled back in time to the Renaissance, you would find that popular art was neither public nor personal — it was largely classical, religious, and bound by tradition. There was very little room for experimentation, especially considering how little time people had to explore their own identities. Fast forward to the present, we are surrounded by publicly accessible media that constantly reshapes our culture. As a result, the art of today is influenced by many of the same aspects of media and culture that OSGEMEOS factors into their pieces. Thus, their style feels familiar, enticing, accessible, and recognizable — yet never redundant.
Seeing that mural in Stockholm was a real full-circle moment. Marveling at those giant yellow Tritrez inhabitants, I thought to myself, “When was the last time we met? Oh, that’s right, on the complete opposite side of the planet.” Despite the distance traveled or time passed, the influence of OSGEMEOS was always there. You can see this everywhere in contemporary society: just as fashion trends or musical genres suddenly gain global recognition, art carries continuity across space and time, becoming a powerful force in shaping social movements, cultural identity, and even technology.
