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©Pepijn Van Den Nieuwendijk
©Pepijn Van Den Nieuwendijk
©Pepijn Van Den Nieuwendijk
©Pepijn Van Den Nieuwendijk
©Pepijn Van Den Nieuwendijk

Pepijn Van Den Nieuwendijk

  • Cirque de Pepin
  • Ceramicist
  • The Hague, Netherlands
  • Master Artisan
Pepijn Van Den Nieuwendijk Ceramicist
Contact
Dutch, English
Hours:
By appointment only
Phone:
+31 617106712
©Pepijn Van Den Nieuwendijk

Rewriting stories

  • • Pepijn is inspired by natural history and legends
  • • For him, ceramics is a means to play
  • • Visiting China informed his craft

Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk’s world is a journey into fantasy realms as depicted through his ceramics and paintings. The name of his atelier Cirque de Pepin applies the word ‘circus’ to reference the weird and wonderful creatures that he conjures up with his artist’s imagination and with the help of legends and myths from the past. Majolica is the vehicle he uses to showcase resplendent dodos, resurrected from extinction; a dragon emperor and a rat clad in armour. The rodent dons a ceremonial helmet – a nod to war-waging generals throughout history. A statue of a goose references Francisco Verdugo, a 16th century Spanish military commander in the Dutch Revolt. Pepijn’s creations are detailed renderings of often tragi-comic, yet whimsical scenes grounded in the fantastic, as well as the historic.

Read the full interview

Works

  • All rights reserved
  • ©Pepijn Van Den Nieuwendijk
  • ©Pepijn Van Den Nieuwendijk
  • ©Kees Hageman
  • ©Pepijn Van Den Nieuwendijk
Photo: All rights reserved
Reizen van de Dodo

This ceramic sculpture is glazed with a matte white glossy glaze, painted with Cobalt blue using the Majolica technique. The sculpture is fired at 1170 degrees celsius. The sculpture depicts a Dodo in a boat on a wild sea and was inspired by stories of live Dodos that were brought overseas from the island of Mauritius by Portuguese sailors to the Indian court of Emperor Jahangir.

Length 36 cm
Width 28 cm
Height 46 cm

Photo: ©Pepijn Van Den Nieuwendijk
Afterwar Delight

Ceramic sculpture glazed using various glazing techniques.The sculpture of the book-reading rat, dressed as a knight, seems to have escaped from la Fontaine's fables. However, the sculpture is not purely fairytale-like, it also refers to reality, war, and threats.

Length 130 cm
Width 100 cm
Height 190 cm

Photo: ©Pepijn Van Den Nieuwendijk
Fuping bird

This sculpture is glazed with a matte white glossy glaze, painted with Cobalt blue using the Majolica technique and was fired at 1170 degrees celsius. It originates from a painting Pepijn made in 2008. The birds in the painting were inspired by the fairytale 'L'Oiseau Bleu' (The Blue Bird) by Maurice Maeterlinck.

Length 50 cm
Width 40 cm
Height 50 cm

Photo: ©Kees Hageman
Kaststel In het straatje van Vermee

A collaborative project with Tineke van Gils, for an exhibition called The Little Street of Vermeer at the Vermeer Centrum Delft. It is a five-part cabinet set painted with an underglaze of Cobalt oxide, covered in a transparent glaze. The imagery is based on a painting by Vermeer, but in this case the subjects are mice.

Photo: ©Pepijn Van Den Nieuwendijk
The time traveler

Painting in acrylic ink, using an ink wash technique. The drawing depicts a Dodo as a colourful time traveler. He travels through a desolate mountainous landscape full of strange pagodas carrying all kinds of belongings with him, perhaps they’re gifts.

Width 72 cm
Height 101 cm

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