Born in San Salvador, December 19th of 1971, his parents are Marina Portillo and Luis Felipe Gil, his love for art began in his early childhood when he was the favourite to draw on the board for the class. At twenty years old he enrolled in the National Arts Centre [Centro Nacional de Arte] and finish with the title of baccalaureate in Arts, due to his incredible talent the director offer him a job position inside the institution as professor.
Giovanni wanted to learn more so he enrolled in the Salvadoran Lutheran University [Universidad Luterana Salvadoreña] in the career of Education Administration and also got married at the age of twenty four years old, he then travel to japan to study more and learn about engraving and print techniques, he became specially interested in this area thanks to Carlos Canas, who encourage him to explore an area barely known in El Salvador. He also travel to Cuba to learn about cuban art and their unique techniques.
After various individual and collective art expositions he create one of his most famous projects called ‘Dreaming Backwards’ [Sonar al Reves] in 2003.
To see all the works under this project click the button below called 'Work'
With the creation of Soñar al Reves [Dreaming Backwards] he was able to expand his circle and get involve with masters of the salvadoran art, whom taught him the importance of the artists being united as a family, with this in mind he contact great exponents of art and united them under the project called Bajo Presion [Under Pressure].
In the four years of functioning Bajo presion [Under Pressure] has united as many as 46 salvadoran artist and students that were given a scholarship to study engraving and they were supported by the community.
In 2014 he was invited to give a conference in the Manhattan Graphics Center, and in 2017 was appointed as Director and Coordinator of Visual Arts in the National Arts Center [Centro Nacional de Artes].
INTRODUCTION
Giovanni Gil, also known as Hector Giovanni Gil Portillo (San Salvador,December 19, 1971) is an artist and one of the greatest exponents of Engraving in El Salvador. He is the founder and director of the projects ‘Soñar al Reves’ [Dreaming Backwards] and ‘Bajo Presion’ [Under Pressure]. Winner of the Silver Medal at the Salon of Contemporary Art El Salvador-Japan.
Wikipedia