Gustavo Ramos

GUSTAVO RAMOS (b. 1993) is a Brazilian-born artist who moved to Phoenix at the age of 15 and taught himself to communicate through careful observation and the language of painting. During his difficult adolescent years, when Ramos spoke little English, he relied on reading such non-verbal cues as facial expressions and body language. This experience would ultimately inform his future career as a realist portraitist. "Equipped with a heightened sensitivity to the subtleties of facial and other physical gesticulations because of that time in my life, I became motivated to depict the figure in pencil," he explains. "Today, those formative years aid me in my practice as a way to explore emotion through oil paint and depict figures as agents in their own stories." 

The 26-year-old artist has made a career of painting people's stories through portraiture that explores a range of emotions. Primarily self-taught, Ramos has relied on studying and copying Old Masters. A significant influence has been Rembrandt. "He created the sense of real people who had real experiences," says Ramos. "I too hope to create works of timeless beauty and project authentic human experiences through my paintings."  

-Allison Malafronte, Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, October 2020