’s paintings, both joyful and sombre, resolute and equivocal, explore the hidden images and forgotten or imagined stories drawn from everyday life in the coastal fishing town of La Peñita, Nayarit, Mexico, where he lives and works.
The Mexican-born artist moved with his family to East Los Angeles as a teenager in the mid-1960s and began formal art training while in high school, taking Saturday painting and drawing classes at the Chouinard Art Institute. He later studied photography at Los Angeles Trade Technical College and earned a BFA and MFA from the Otis Art Institute of Los Angeles County, where he was influenced by the traditional figurative teachings of Joseph Mugnaini and the conceptual approaches of artists such as Lynda Benglis, Guy de Cointet, and Joan Jonas.
In the late 1970s, Gil de Montes was actively involved in the Chicano art movement and co-founded LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions), an experimental artist-run space. During this period, he developed a multidisciplinary practice that included painting, ceramics, and photography, working alongside artists such as Carlos Almaraz, Gronk, and Teddy Sandoval.
In 1989, at the invitation of curator and art historian Carla Stellweg, Gil de Montes moved to Mexico City to work at the Museo de Arte Moderno on a special issue of Artes Visuales devoted to Chicano art. While in Mexico City, he began experimenting with painting over large-scale black-and-white photographs. After returning to Los Angeles, he began what is now known as his signature painting practice, regularly exhibiting with Jan Baum Gallery until its closure in 2007. In 2005, he relocated to La Peñita, Nayarit, Mexico, where he continues to live and work.
