LIVING OUT LOUD abstract artwork interpreted across this poncho knitted in México City w/ swishes of red + orange showing up only on the back. But right now, new ponchos are being made in CDMX with 100% BLACK + WHITE on the front AND back: so they’ll be totally #blackLineCrazy! One or two original ponchos (w/ dashes of color) are now in the Galeria but not for long!

GALERÍA VAN DE WIEL is a small eclectic gallery offering visitors something unexpected: the artwork of a woman who spent more than three decades shaping the identities of global brands.

With Brooklyn and Sydney as her base, Dutch creative brand strategist Mary van de Wiel (aka Van) enjoyed a 30-year career in branding and identity consulting before turning her focus toward art in San Miguel de Allende. Last year, she opened the doors to her Galería, something she'd never dreamed of doing! A "brand psychologist," who helped entrepreneurs and companies uncover the deeper story behind their brands, Van now uncovers her own art.

"Identity is something we continuously shape and reveal."

GALERÍA VAN DE WIEL, contemporary and deeply personal, is both a working studio and an exhibition space. Van's artworks explore themes of transformation, memory, and personal narrative. Informed by how identity is expressed in the world around us, they're drawing on her background in branding, where understanding human perception is essential.

Many of van de Wiel's early pieces were created when she first arrived in San Miguel in 2016. Renting a bare studio, she bought a can of black house paint and a massive roll of paper and for the first time in her life, started to paint floor to ceiling. The process changed her life. Later, working with acrylic paint, she drew attention from galleries in San Miguel de Allende, Sydney, Australia, and New York City, where one of her major Public Art Installations still stands in the UBS Bank HQ at 1285 Avenue of the Americas and West 51st Street.

Because Van believes that "art belongs in everyday life, not just on walls" she began transferring her original paintings onto objects found in everyday life: area rugs, upholstery, lighting fixtures, bags, and unisex ponchos. She works with Mexico's master weavers to produce her one-of-a-kind area rugs and throws, each one handwoven using 100% wool sourced from the State of Guanajuato. Her latest functional works are sculptural metal light forms, each based on an original van de Wiel painting.

Van's gallery is the culmination of her life's work—a place where branding, psychology, and artistic exploration meet.

Galería Van de Wiel
Calle Julian Carillo 5, Colonia Guadalupe
Wednesday-Saturdays 11am-4pm
van@shopvandewiel.com +1 213-361-7500

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