The Wall Street Journal runs a mini-profile of Os Gemeos, the Brazilian street artists, who are twin brothers–Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo:

Os Gêmeos are part of a tradition of public art in Latin America going back to the Mexican muralist movement of the 1920s and the Brazilian painters Di Cavalcanti and Candido Portinari, who produced works in the early and mid-20th century.

The Pandolfos, too, have been deeply influential, working with younger artists and developing what could be called a São Paulo school of street art, says Baixo Ribeiro, curator of a recent street-art exhibition at the São Paulo Art Museum. “They instilled a philosophy that this was art, not just fun,” he says.

Doodling away on his desk, Gustavo explains that the brothers turned to graffiti to express themselves and communicate with other dwellers of São Paulo, a vast urban metropolis of 20 million people. But diving into their work also allowed them to retreat from the intense realities of a city where disparities between rich and poor are huge, greenery scarce and a threat of violence always present.

A View from the Street (Wall Street Journal)