Gus Romano 12/8/23 Gus Romano 12/8/23

Turning Thirty: A Crossroads in My Artistic Journey

Artist Gus Romano Reflects on Turning 30 and Pursuing His Passion

As a full-time artist in Lisbon, the path to success is not always easy. This article shares the personal journey of artist Gus Romano as he turns 30 and reflects on the balance between his passion for art and his need to make a living.

The article discusses the importance of self-discovery and the role of AI in helping artists organize their thoughts and share their stories. It also explores the challenges faced by aspiring artists and the power of perseverance.

Letters of Gus Romano

Since July 2025, I have been writing what I call my Letters. They are not essays, nor polished reflections, but fragments of my inner life as an artist — thoughts written in the raw, as if to a friend, like Van Gogh once wrote to his brother Theo.

I began these Letters because I realized painting alone cannot hold all that I feel. Sometimes the silence of the studio needs words. In them, I write about doubt, joy, fear, inspiration, exhaustion, and the fragile balance between my work as an artist and my life outside it.

The Letters are dated, imperfect, and deliberately personal. They are not meant to be instructions or manifestos. They are simply traces — records of what it means to search for truth in painting in the 21st century.

Whether anyone reads them now is less important than the fact that they exist. One day, perhaps, they will help explain not only my art, but also the time I lived in, and the questions that guided me.