In 2011, the cognac maker partnered with New Jersey native KAWS and last year hooked up with New York City legend Futura. The marketing campaign is the latest example of corporate America co-opting street art to bolster a brand's street cred. In exchange, the colloborating artists get to affix their artwork on a few hundred thousand bottles of cognac and free publicity from an all expenses paid tour promoting the colloboration. Some purists may call that selling out. And it probably is. But isn't that the end game in the art world any way?
Certainly, Os Gêmeos weren't sweating that question when they strolled into Catch restaurant inside the newly renovated Shorecrest Hotel looking like a pair of Wes Andersen characters vacationing on Collins Ave. Sporting fine-trimmed beards, eye-glasses, and tourist attire (i.e. floral print bicycle caps and short sleeve button down cabana shirts), Octavio and Gustavo met with a small gaggle of journalists for a seafood lunch and Hennessy cocktails.
At first, Cultist thought the twins' curt responses were due to the fact that no one at the table falas português, but it turns out they really don't like to talk much. In between moments of awkward silence, Octavio and Gustavo revealed their work is inspired by the slums of Sao Paulo, where they grew up, and the Eighties b-boy culture they were a part of. "We were influenced by Afrika Bambataa, Grandmaster Flash, and all the early hip-hop greats," Gustavo relays. "Normally we don't explain our art. We just give it to you guys and you decide."
