Art & Exhibitions
Watch Os Gêmeos Transform Industrial Silos Into Wondrous Giants
The Brazilian twins steal the show at the Vancouver Biennale.
Cait Munro
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For the past month, Brazilian street art duo Os Gêmeos have been transforming six 70-foot-tall silos on Vancouver’s Granville Island into their signature colorful, straight-faced cartoon figures, for a giant piece titled, well, Giants. The project, which is part of the Vancouver Biennale, is their largest work to date, with painting the exterior of a Boening 747 for the World Cup landing a close second.
Costs associated with the towering mural—it took 1,400 cans of spray paint to complete!—were successfully recouped using crowd-funding site Indiegogo, where the pair has almost tripled the initial $20,000 asking goal, with 13 days left to go. They are now hoping to raise $125,000 to cover the full costs of the project, including airfare, prep, a base coat for the silos (even silos need priming!), and lift equipment rental. The twins graciously donated their time to the non-profit undertaking.
“The first challenge of this project was to find a location that would fit with our idea. We did not want a conventional two-dimensional wall that we had done before—we wanted something different, special, and unique,” the duo said in a statement. “The Biennale has a strong connection with sculpture, so we decided to find a place where the painting can be transformed, creating a dialogue between the two-dimensional and three-dimensional worlds.”
Indeed, the roundness of the silos makes the figures come alive, and the bright colors bring a bit of Brazilian flair to Vancouver’s skyline. It’s an incredible feat when you consider the level of detail the brothers, along with a crew of four, were able to bring to such massive structures using only spray paint cans and given just a month’s time.
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