Hi! I'm Peter.
Let me tell you my story.

Not as some polished artist statement, but as it actually happened.
The messier, human version.

Peter Gil is painting or writing on a large, colourful canvas with a small brush, focusing intently on the artwork.

Early life

I grew up in a tiny Polish town by the Vistula River, where my grandma's kitchen was my first art studio. I'd hide under her linen tablecloth, the one with those intricate Kociewian flowers embroidered by her mother, and watch her cook through the fabric.

My parents were working in trade, hospitality and many various endeavours across the years. We traveled a lot. They have dragged me to every museum and market from Madrid to Manila as a kid.

Well yes, I have complained about it then. And no, I wouldn't trade those memories for anything! Little by little I opened to art, in whatever form it comes.

Those trips planted this certainty in me that art is not for quiet, white galleries. It can be found in luscious gardens, bustling open air markets and a million other, completely ordinary places. It's how we talk across time, borders, and generations.

…art is not for quiet, white galleries.

It can be found in luscious gardens, bustling open-air markets, and a million other, completely ordinary places.

A young man with short hair (Peter Gil) wearing black-rimmed glasses and a silver watch on his left wrist, resting his head on crossed arms. In the background, there is a blurred abstract painting with black, red, and yellow colors.

Formative years

At 18, I thought I had it all figured out. I marched into the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, ready to conquer European industrial design, and the rest of the world soon after. But art school chewed me up badly.

Between late-night critiques, teachers who made you feel small, and that voice in your head whispering, You're not good enough. I lasted a year. Walked away thinking that maybe creativity isn't for people like me.

So I did the safe thing. Studied law, specializing in sustainable energy.
Got my Masters writing on energy policy. After that I jumped between law and marketing jobs. After some time, clients got bigger, and so did my impact.

I've worked with big corporations, jet-setting for campaigns that looked glamorous on LinkedIn, but could not find a way to actually do anything about the things I felt and experienced.

Peter Gil working with gold leaf at a desk in an his art studio. In the background, a decorative wall art.

People ask, What’s your style?

Somewhere between grandmother's linen and modern overthinking. I call it post-folk. Academics call it 'critical vernacular.' Both work!

My current outlook

My art today? I take those traditional floral motifs, the ones that comforted me as a kid, and collide them with knotted lines, heavy textures, and colors that feel like modern anxiety.

It’s not really supposed to look pretty, but rather alive. While some days it’s a love letter to my heritage; other days it’s screaming into the void. In a decorative way, if you know what I mean.  

Mostly, it’s me saying that You can love where you’re from without being trapped by it; You can fall apart, rethink yourself and make something beautiful of it.

The elevator pitch?

I make art for people who’ve ever felt stuck between past and future. For anyone who’s rebuilt themselves from scraps.

If you’ve ever looked at a family heirloom and thought, how do I carry this into my messy, modern life? We’re already
speaking the same language.  

Close-up of a painted canvas with black outlined floral patterns over a red and pink checkered background.

Read more

For insight into some of my work. See the oil and digital paintings, along with detailed photos and descriptions for some!

Selected Works

explore a selection of my works

Find out more about origin of the artist. A short introduction to the Kociewie ethnocultural region.

Kociewie region

Kociewie heritage