Hirshhorn Spotlights Street Art In Duo of New Exhibitions -

Image Courtesy of Dean Robbins

By Dean Robbins

If there is one museum in DC that you need to visit right now, it is the Hirshhorn. Beyond the fantastic Revolutions exhibition that broadly surveys the museum’s collection dating between 1860 and 1960, the museum opened two temporary exhibitions in late September spotlighting the value and impact of street art: Basquiat x Banksy (through October 26, 2025) and OSGEMEOS: Endless Story (through August 3, 2025).

Image Courtesy of Dean Robbins

Basquiat x Banksy, despite the two megastars in the title, is only worthwhile in the context of also visiting the OSGEMEOS retrospective. The concept is centered on two works: Basquiat’s 1982 painting Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump and Banksy’s 2018 graffiti mural Boy and Dog in Stop and Search. The former work is about Black joy expressed in the late New York artist’s traditional rough, abstract style. The latter sees Banksy reappropriate Basquiat’s work by draining it almost entirely of color and replacing the joy with the intrusion of the police state.

Image Courtesy of Dean Robbins

After these two paintings, there is a small selection of minor works by Basquiat, including some from his childhood. One could adequately absorb this entire display in fifteen minutes. If you go in expecting major collections of either artist, you will be sorely disappointed. However, as it is, Basquiat x Banksy is interesting and relevant, even if slight.

Image Courtesy of Dean Robbins

Slight is not a word one would likely use to describe OSGEMEOS: Endless Story, an exhaustive retrospective of the multimedia work of “the twins” (Os gemeos in Portuguese) who helped transform street art in Brazil and the world. Otavio and Gustafo Pandolfo (1974-) first fell in love with graffiti through the hip-hop and breakdancing scene of Sao Paulo. The exhibition chronicles this and all of their work in jaw-dropping detail, including dozens of early notebooks, sketches, letters, and even the twins’ boomboxes.

Image Courtesy of Dean Robbins

As visitors will quickly learn, there are two aspects of the duo’s work that makes it so magical: first, they have a distinct, engrossing style and second, they appear able to adapt it to any form imaginable. Endless Story includes photos of massive five-story-high graffiti murals, paintings, sculptures, found object assemblage, room-size installations, DJ mixes, and animation. Because of this range of talent, the exhibition is best experienced blind. There are new, occasionally provocative surprises around every bend of the Hirshhorn third floor inner ring.

Image Courtesy of Dean Robbins

OSGEMEOS: Endless Story is not only a fantastic tribute to the duo, but to Brazilian culture and street art worldwide. The curators did a wonderful job of immersing the visitor in the era of late 80s and early 90s Sao Paulo. Music and broadcast news from the period play. In the exhibition’s second large room, there are several glass cases filled not only with various ephemera of the duo but relics of Brazilian breakdancing and hip-hop. The intersection of the personal and the societal is brilliantly elucidated.

Image Courtesy of Dean Robbins

The Hirshhorn Museum is open seven days a week from 10am (12pm on Mondays) to 5:30pm. It is located on the National Mall, across from the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, and about two blocks away from either the Archives or Smithsonian Metro stops.