Wacky is wonderful. Self-expression is, of course, what makes the world of art so superbly rich. On this wacky (and I mean it in the best sense of the word) tip is Sixeart’s newest mixed-media-on-paper show in Sao Paulo, Sueñan las gallinas con ser humanas (The Hens Dream About Being Human), which has specially created a baker’s dozen of new works. The Barcelona-bred artist cut his teeth with graffiti in the ’80s, but went on to scale big heights — literally — when he joined Os Gemeos and JR for the Tate Modern’s Godzilla-sized street art spotlight last year. Incorporating the influence of classic Spanish artists into his urban-style work, this latest brood addresses mutating animals, which is the last theme in a series (the first two are “bad children with fringe” and “circuits.” Miro definitely comes to mind when you see his black, bold lines dividing yellows and reds, making his chicks hot, colorful little numbers. The exhibit runs at Rojo’s Artspace until Sept. 5, but you can shop the work here.

If you’re passing a newsstand in the next few days, look for the long-awaited Brazil issue of Juxtapoz. Guest curated by William Baglione—whose artists we always breathlessly talk about here—the hot special edition stars a slew of familiar names: Bruno 9li, Tinho, Calma, Choque Cultural, Os Gemeos and others. Baglione said he chose the artists based on a variety of styles, potential and experience. The cover artist is Herbert Baglione, William’s bro who counts Juxtapoz editor M. Revelli as a fan. The story goes that the issue originally was meant to be a spotlight on South American artists, but when they saw that most of the artists were Brazilian, Juxtapoz changed strategy and dedicated an entire issue to the well-deserving cast of lucky artists. Jump on this quick.

Photo from Black Rainbow Extraordinaire Magazine

Although Brazil’s famous graffiti export Os Gemeos have gone from painting streets in Sao Paulo to castles in Scotland, they deserve more than a few solo shows given to them in their home country. Vertigem has the distinction of being their first solo exhibit in Brazil’s old capital of Rio de Janeiro, and just opened yesterday to amped-up Carioca fans. The twins’ skinny, yellow figures star in the usual stellar paintings, but Os Gemeos also have a few sweet installations in store. There will be a giant head visitors can stand inside filled with tiny infinitely reflecting mirrors, and even a piece that incorporates a Volkswagon Beetle. The exhibit runs at CCBB Rio de Janeiro until May 24, but you can check out photos here.

In other Brazilian art news, but more accessible to y’all: The Os Gemeos are currently showing their Too Far Too Close exhibition at Deitch Projects (their second solo show at the gallery) in NYC. After all you’ve been hearing about them, it’s a good opportunity to experience the phenomenon first hand. The twins have built a city inside their art space, which functions as the base for new work, including installations and paintings within which their trademark yellow people live. You have until August 9th — and you’d be seriously lame to miss this.

Thirty years ago, when graffiti was withheld the respect of the subtitle “Art Form,” a twelve year-old Vulcan hit the subway cars of New York with his collection of wildly colored paintcans. Over thirty years — and countless walls, trains, and buses — later, the now San Francisco-based graffiti legend has made a smooth transition from street to START SOMA, where the artist-in-residence uses his decades of experience to continue doing what he's done all along — create some of the most significant works of art, both street and otherwise, this side of 1973.

We chatted with Vulcan about his graffiti past and his gallery present, and came out the other side in agreement with the artist: Corporate or communal, gallery or ‘getting up'; art is art, and making it is what truly matters.

Joshspear.com: As one of the earlier writers, what graffiti represents to you is probably somewhat different than what it represents to today’s newest artists. Has any important meaning been lost over the years?

Vulcan: When I was 12 years old in Harlem, I wanted to CREATE. But options were pretty limited – scavenged paint cans and public surfaces were pretty much my only options. Throughout my teens, I painted wherever and whatever I could – buses, subway trains, city walls. I painted my name. I painted giant robots. I planned ‘masterpieces’ in my notebooks at school, and horded paint cans until I had literally hundreds of colors. But I didn’t call what I was doing ‘graffiti’. I was just painting. As I honed my technical skills and found my voice, at some point I was making ART – but it was never a conscious progression. READ MORE…

Brazil’s biggest graffiti export, the talented and modest Os Gemeos, are exhibiting their first-ever solo museum show in The Netherlands, called The Flowers in This Garden Were Planted by My Grandparents. Next, they’ll take on the universe. As much as I can tell via the photos from my place that’s unfortunately not in The Netherlands, the work is stellar. See the deal over at our pals at CoolHunting.

Via Cool Hunting.

It’s something you have to see to believe: four famous Brazilian graffiti artists, Nunca and Nina Pandolfo and duo Os Gemeos have been working for the past few weeks on covering the medieval Scottish Kelburn Castle with their colorful, signature styles. The photo of the project so far depicts a castle that looks like it would perfectly fit in at Disneyland as home to a new psychedelia-theme ride. The bizarre idea came from David Boyle and his sister, Alice, members of the “oldest family in Scotland to have continuously inhabited the same historic home, Kelburn Castle.” The Graffiti Project aims to bring together notions of urban and rural as well as cultural and traditional differences, but I think they may have already succeeded. Lord Glasgow, who is David and Alice’s father, has been a good sport throughout, even declaring in a humorous message posted on the site, “When my son, David, and daughter, Alice, came to tell me they had secured the services of some Brazilian artists to paint graffiti on the back of Kelburn Castle, I thought they had gone mad…Now, I wait with both excitement and trepidation, to see the result.” We are, too.

Photo via Supertouch