roberto gil de montes
1950, Guadalajara, Mexico
Roberto Gil de Montes’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.
untitled, 2021
oil on canvas
46.06 x 33.86 x 1.85 in.
lalo, 2020
oil on canvas
22.05 x 31.1 x 2.17 in.
untitled, 2020
oil on board
13.39 x 10.24 x 1.18 in.
rio grande, 2021
oil on canvas
40.08 x 70 x 1.97 in.
distance, 2020
oil on canvas
39.76 x 70.08 x 1.77 in.
the land developer, 2021
oil on canvas
70.87 x 78.74 x 2.17 in.
end of town, 2021
oil on canvas
29.61 x 39.45 x 1.77 in.
endangered species, 2021
oil on linen
58.58 x 58.86 x 1.57 in.
encuentro, 2020
oil on linen
22.83 x 39.17 x 1.1 in.
reading, 2016
oil on linen
15.12 x 20.98 x 1.42 in.
mystical south, 2017
oil on linen
75.61 x 90.16 x 2.17 in.
untitled, 2015
watercolor on paper
30.31 x 23.03 in.
riot, 2021
gouache on paper
13.98 x 11.02 in.
sangre en la jungla, 2021
gouache on paper
11.02 x 13.98 in.
chivito, 2021
gouache on paper
11.02 x 13.98 in.
victor sleeping, 2016
oil on canvas
8.86 x 11.81 x 1.18 in.
boy on river, 2020
oil on canvas
10.83 x 17.91 x 2.09 in.
el pescador, 2020
oil on linen
77.17 x 101.18 x 1.77 in.
the dream, 2020
oil on linen
23 5/8 x 39 1/2 in.
Gil de Montes’s solo exhibitions include: CONDO, Phillida Reid, London (2026); Reverence in Blue, kurimanzutto, New York (2023); Temporada de lluvias, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2022); Roberto Gil de Montes: Eight Works, Park View/Paul Soto, Los Angeles (2021); Roberto Gil de Montes: The Water, kurimanzutto out east, East Hampton, New York (2021); Misfits, as part of Siembra, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2020); Moments, Lora Schlesinger Gallery, Santa Monica, California (2018); Hecho en México, Lora Schlesinger Gallery, Santa Monica, California (2014); Roberto Gil de Montes: Works Inspired by India, Lisa Coscino Gallery, Pacific Grove, California (2005); Roberto Gil de Montes, LewAllen Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico (1992); Roberto Gil de Montes, Carla Stellweg Latin American & Contemporary Art, New York (1991); Ni Aquí, Ni Allá, Junior Arts Center Gallery, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Art Park (1991); Ni Aquí, Ni Allá, Winston Gallery, Washington, D.C. (1987); Twelve and Nine, Otis Student Gallery, Los Angeles (two-person exhibition with Dean Pappas) (1974), among others. Throughout his career, Gil de Montes has presented numerous solo exhibitions at the Jan Baum Gallery in Los Angeles.
Gil de Montes’s group exhibitions include: Elephant, curated by Magalí Arriola, Mendes Wood DM, New York (2025); The Horizon is Always Receding, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2025); In the Sight of a Man, M+M Gallery, Hong Kong (2025); Queer Histories, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil (2024); An Unlikely Inventory: Dialogues with Surrealism, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2024); Day for Night: New American Realism, Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica, in collaboration with Aïshti Foundation, Rome (2024); TODOS JUNTOS (All Together), kurimanzutto, New York (2022); L.A. Memo: Chicana/o Art from 1972–1989, La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Los Angeles (2022); Raphael Montañez Ortiz: A Contextual Retrospective, El Museo del Barrio, New York (2022); traveled to Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2022); Bajo la bóveda azul cobalto, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca (MACO), Mexico (2018); Construyendo puentes en época de muros. Arte Chicano / Mexicano de Los Ángeles a México, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City (2018), organized by AltaMed Foundation; traveled to Morelia, Monterrey, Acapulco, Oaxaca, Guadalajara, Tijuana (Mexico) (2019); Axis Mundo: Queer Networks in Chicano L.A, organized by ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries in collaboration with Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles (2018); traveled to Vicki Myhren Gallery, University of Denver, Colorado (2018); The Hunter College Art Galleries, New York (2018); Lawndale Art Center, Houston, Texas (2019); Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts (2019); Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, University of Nevada (2019); The Gund Gallery at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio (2020); and Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Ohio (2021); Papel Chicano Dos: Works on Paper from the Collection of Cheech Marin, organized by Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, California (2016); traveled to Riverside Art Museum, California (2017); Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma (2018); University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie (2018); El Paso Museum of Art, Texas (2018); Wichita Falls Museum of Art, Texas (2018); Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center, Anaheim, California (2019); and Loveland Museum/Gallery, Colorado (2019); MEX/LA: “Mexican” Modernism(s) in Los Angeles, 1930–1985, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California (2011); Mirrors: Contemporary Mexican Artists in the United States, Cultural Institute of Mexico, Washington, D.C. (2005), among others.
His work has been exhibited in international biennials and triennials, including: Flow States – La Trienal 2024, El Museo del Barrio, New York; The Milk of Dreams, 59th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale (2022); and the 1 Bienal de la Habana (1984).
Gil de Montes’s work is part of various public collections, such as the Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe; Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); USC Fisher Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca (MACO), Mexico; Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California; Sifang Art Museum, China; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; and X Museum, Beijing.
read the full article in spanish written by constanza lambertucci on el país
real the full article in spanish on artishock
read the full article of the mexican pavillion at the venice biennale on the new york times
