BLACK LINE CRAZY

One day, a NY-based brand maverick Mary van de Wiel landed in the middle of Mexico, picked up a brush and can of black house paint and, for the first time in her life, started to paint floor to ceiling. A life-long incurable doodler, those doodles refused to be doodles anymore. Twenty months and two successful exhibitions later in Australia and Mexico, van de Wiel reinterpreted her black-and-white abstract paintings across gallery windows, murals, fabrics, home furnishings & more. "After all, art has a pulse. It belongs in everyday life. Not just on walls," she says. Then, she started scaling down images of her paintings for a line of accessories. Working with makers in Mexico City and Leon, she created a limited edition collection of vegan leather totes, messenger bags and zippered portfolios that spark the wearer's style statement. One-of-kind wool throws & rugs followed. A good example of multicultural fusion, she's convinced she couldn't have created the entire BLC collection anywhere else except in Mexico. But right now, her first public art installation is in New York City. Unveiled in September 2019, titled WHAT WERE WE THINKING, it's still up at 6th Ave & W 51.