On behalf of Mr. Darwin

I present a few details of some new paintings that I'm working on. 
The paintings feature a Mammoth, a ghostly snowman, and Mr. Darwin (who is quite upset).
More information and pictures will be posted soon.

  

The Dragon Emperor and a Fuping bird

Some recent ceramic sculptures.
I finished the Dragon Emperor sculpture already a few months ago.
The Fuping bird is a new work in progress.
I already made four Fuping birds the last few years, but this one has a different
pattern than the previous four, sample overhere.
The other Fuping birds are sitting on a stone, while this one is sitting on a nest.

Kamasutra rabbits

Difficult to translate in English, 'Het dufste uit Duf': 'The most fusty of Fusty'? Duf (Fusty) is a Dutch pricewinning bookazine for teenage kids. Colourfull, funny and full of interesting subjects. I had the opportunity to participate in this bookazine with illustrations. I made the first 3 illustration spreads in 2006, for the articles 'Handjes booven de deekens' (Hands above the blanket), a glance on masturbation in the 19th century, and for an article about the Kamasutra (rabbits).
Now the Kamasutra rabbits are republished in the overview edition  'Het dufste uit Duf'.
The Dutch Museum of the Image, MOTI has now an interactive exhibition on modern visual culture in collaboration with Duf.

http://www.dufenzo.nl/
http://www.motimuseum.nl/nl/tentoonstellingen/nu/waanzien/2184

Meanwhile in Singapore

(WOW) My Dutch settlement drawings are now shown at the AAF, Affordable Artfair, Singapore. with gallery La Lanta, Fine Art from Bangkok.

http://affordableartfair.com/singapore/visit/

See also my previous post on drawing:
http://cirquedepepin.blogspot.nl/2013/09/drawing-time.html

And some background on the two larger drawings shown at the left:
http://cirquedepepin.blogspot.nl/2013/05/dutch-settlement.html

Meanwhile in Oldeberkoop, Friesland, The Netherlands

Disassembling my Afterwar Delight sculpture for transport back to my studio (with my dad). We spent most time on the road (four hours), disassembling took only about one hour.

See also the post on assembling the sculpture:
http://cirquedepepin.blogspot.nl/2013/07/the-circus-has-set-up-tents-again.html 

1000 bombs and grenades

Gallery Nasty Alice goes full on attack in the upcoming exhibition ARTWAR.
They put on some heavy artillery: Kalashnikovs, paint bombs and artgrenades.
I will join this army with my vase 'Der Bärtige Kaiser'.
Let the battle begin!

Opening november 9, 2013, 4-8 pm

November 9 - december 20, 2013

Participating Artwarriors: Stef Fridael, Jakob de Jonge, Erik Klaassen, Jeroen Kool,
Marcel du Long, Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk, Art van Triest
en Andi Watt.
 
http://www.galerienastyalice.nl/expositie/verwacht/art-war
 

A Blue Revolution in Jingdezhen

This month (October) I spent working in Jingdezhen, China.
I made the design for the exhibition Jingdezhen - Delft: The bleu revolution in the Imperial Porcelain Museum in Jingdezhen, and I also designed the booth for UNIC (The UNIC project is a network of 10 European partners that share a common industrial and cultural heritage built around a strong ceramics tradition)  at the Jingdezhen International Ceramic fair, this year hosted by Delft and Limoges.
It was an amazing time, and especially great to work with Chinese Carpenters, Printers, Museum curators translators, archaeologists and more.
Many thanks to Adriaan Rees, projectleader, Ronald Brouwer curator and Steven Jongma, head of the archaeology department of Delft.

Down here are some links to websites about the Blue revolution in Jingdezhen.

http://www.chinatimes.nl/en/lifestyle/culture/1374-delfts-blauw-terug-naar-waar-het-vandaan-komt-china
http://www.erfgoed-delft.nl/contact/pers/persberichten/archive/view/listid-25-perslijst/mailid-365-persbericht-the-blue-revolution-china
http://www.chinanews.com/cul/2013/10-21/5405868.shtml
http://china.nlembassy.org/news/2013/10/jingdezhen-delft-the-blue-revolution.html#
http://www.chinaciqi.com/article/news/CeramicNews/
http://www.jdzol.com/2013/1020/72067.html
http://www.jdz.gov.cn/jrcd/201310/t20131021_283073.htm
http://www.yichunba.com/article-57308-1.html

Flyer for the Blue Revolution in the Jingdezhen Imperial Porcelain Museum

Underwater room in the Jingdezhen Imperial Porcelain Museum

Large, 3,5 meter width, ricepaper drawing that I made for the Boat room

Meeting the firefighters at the UNIC booth, Jingdezhen Ceramic Fair

Opening ceremony at the Imperial Porcelain Museum

Drawing time

In between working on the Delft - Jingdezhen Blue revolution exhibition for the Imperial Porcelain Museum in Jingdezhen I am working on some large and very detailed gouache drawings for La lanta Fine Art in Bangkok. They will be presented at the AAF fair in Singapore.
The first two drawings arrived at Bangkok a few weeks ago.

The house of Ababa

I present ceramic sculptures and paintings in the new "cultural treasure house" 'The house of Ababa'.
Ababa is opening its doors on Wednesday 11 september 2013 at Witte de Withstraat 7A in Rotterdam.
http://ababa.nl/
The coolest thing about this new place is that it is located in the same street where my career started at Showroom MAMA, and just around the corner of my large ceramic sculpture 'Ketelbinkie en het Paard van Troje' at 'Schiedamse Vest'.

The house of Ababa
Opening: Wednesday September 11, 2013
from 6 PM (18:00 hours)
Witte de Withstraat 7A, Rotterdam

The Perpetua Cargo

Now for sale in my webshop a small part of the cargo from the wreck "The Perpetua".
The Perpetua was a relatively small English ship that hit the rocks in a storm and sank on May 22, 1851. Little is known about the Perpetua. It is not exactly known where and when it is built, almost certainly in England in about 1820. About its captain, Preston Diget is, beyond the fact that he survived the sinking, only known that he died penniless in Southampton in 1868. The wreck was discovered by fishermen around 1948. In 1956 the wreck was explored by divers led by my great-uncle, the underwater archaeologist Horatio Evol, in the Java Sea. Although the ship was probably used for the lucrative opium trade between India and China, it also had a special cargo of (at that time already antique) eccentric small bowls, jars, tiles, porcelain, pottery and dishes.
Recently, this extraordinary discovery came from the estate of my uncle in my possession.
Come look in my webshop and be the first to get unique and authentic objects of Perpetua! 


https://www.etsy.com/shop/CirqueDePepin?section_id=10331309

The Perpetua cargo is made in remembrance of my imaginative great-uncle Horatio.
The name Perpetua was based on 'Perpetua Porseline' my goddess of blue and white porcelain (and Delftware) that I depicted on a 3,5 meters high vase that is now in the collection of museum 'De Prinsenhof' Delft, The Netherlands.

To buzz or not to buzz

Shirts for sale! While cleaning up my studio I found some shirts that I made already a few years ago for my solo exhibition at Pulchri studio The Hague.
It was produced by Buzzworks.
3 colour silkscreen.
Limited edition!
Available:
Ladies shirt
Gentlemen shirt
Sweater
 
https://www.etsy.com/shop/CirqueDePepin?section_id=14098962
 
Or contact me via Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pepijn.vandennieuwendijk

Ladies shirt lightblue with dark blue collar.
3 colour screenprint.

 
















 


Sweater 
3 colour screenprint.

 




















Gentlemen shirt dark blue
3 colour screenprint.

 

Ever evolving

A look at my ever evolving studio. This is the view from February this year and from last week (top). The window on the left is gone now. But I get an extra roof light in the ceiling.
In the left corner there is a rabbit cage, they are staying at my studio for a few weeks.... Yes I know it is a little peculiar to have rabbits in your studio, but they are very inspirational.

This is where my studio is located:
www.quartair.nl

Make your own MIng!

Workshop 'Paint Your Own Ming vase'.
On Saturday, August 31 I offer a workshop 'Paint Your Own Ming vase at Het Prinsenhof museum. The afternoon begins with a brief tour of the history of Delftware and the exhibition The Blue Revolution. After that the real work begins.
During the workshop you will paint your own private Ming vase, in the traditional way. 
The vase can't immediately be taken after the workshop. It will be glazed and fired for the second time.  You receive the vase after a few weeks.
Date: Saturday, August 31, 2013 
Time: 2 - 4 PM
Cost: € 40.00 pp (including coffee / tea, minus museum admission) 

Location: Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft.
Reservations for this workshop via: 

Phone: (015) 219 79 27 

Email: educatie-erfgoed@delft.nl 

Reservations can be made up to August 28 2013.

The workshop is for professionals and amateurs!

http://www.prinsenhof-delft.nl/nl/component/content/article/357-activiteiten-zomervakantie#workshop

Sketching for Jingdezhen

This is what kept me busy (and sweating) the last few very hot weeks (very unusual hot weather for The Netherlands). Working on sketches for some highly secret projects involving the Jingdezhen International Ceramic fair and the Imperial Porcelain Museum in Jingdezhen, China.
A few weeks ago I met with professor Jiang Jian Xin director of the Imperial Porcelain Museum at the Blue Revolution exhibition at Het Prinsenhof museum in Delft.
Professor Jiang Jian Xin is an archaeologist and therefore we also visited the archeology department of Delft, looking for Chinese export porcelain from the 17th century (called Kraak porcelain).

The four cardinal directions

This is a little book I recently made. It is a report about my project Woodman's Journey.
In this project 'Woodman's Journey' I studied (and got inspired by) historical ceramics from the four cardinal directions. With this background, I worked on a series of ceramic sculptures.
These sculptures are the (fictional) story of a globe-trotter ("The Woodman" which stands for the wood that was used to firing kilns for centuries), who brings  souvenirs from his journey.
It was intended that I show a specific part of the ceramic spectrum. Usually ceramic techniques that have my interest, and it is partly based on my archaeological interest and love for detail and decoration.
I researched ancient glazes and especially for this project I developed new glazes in collaboration with the glaze technician at Struktuur 68 ceramic studio in The Hague.
Some of the ceramics previously shown at this blog are part of the project.
The project is supported by STROOM Den Haag.
www.stroom.nl

Die Berchtwalder Bartmann ist fertig

Heute: wichtige Neuigkeiten. Die Berchtwalder Bartmann ist fertig!
It came out of the kiln a few weeks ago, and I am very happy with the result.
For more information see my previous post about the making of the Berchtwalder Bartmann.

Dodo van Jahangir

Carving in clay or porcelain is my latest passion.
The first time I did this was in Jingdezhen, China in 2010.
See picture below: the 'Smoking skulls vase'.
Recently I carved the 'Dodo van Jahangir' (Jahangir's Dodo) box below and now I am carving vases made by ceramic artist and potter Tineke van Gils.

The 'Dodo van Jahangir' was inspired by the story of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir who had a living Dodo in his personal menagerie. A painting of Jahangir's Dodo was made by Ustad Mansur in the early 17th century.


Ustad Mansur was the first artist to paint both the Siberian Crane and possibly the Dodo. A Dodo was brought to Jahangir's court via Portuguese controlled Goa and a painting of it is found in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and although unsigned has been thought to be the work of Mansur or a contemporary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ustad_Mansur

 Nur-ud-din Mohammad Salim, known by his imperial name Jahangir,(30 August 1569-28 October 1627) was the fourth Mughal Emperor who ruled from 1605 until his death in 1627.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehangir

The Circus has set up tents again

I have build up my sculpture 'Afterwar Delight' again. For the 6th time now!
This time in the far north of The Netherlands, in the beautiful village of Oldeberkoop, for the art route 'Open stal' (Open Stable): Het landschap in mijn hoofd (The landscape in my head).
The sculpture stands in the garden in front of the beautiful hotel Lunia.
Thanks to Peter Hiemstra and Hélène Smit for the invitation.
And many thanks to Bastiaan de Boer for assistance during the construction and my dad for transport.
1 day lugging (including 6 hours in the car), more than 8 hours public transport, two days assembling, liters Polymer Sealant, stone glue, and many tyraps...

Open Stal 2013 Het landschap in mijn hoofd.
From Saturday July 13 till Sunday August 11 2013.
http://www.openstal.nl

Berchtwalder Bartmann: ready to be fired

I have spent many hours painting my Berchtwalder Bartmann jug the past three weeks. 
The design of the Jug is based on Bartmann jugs, a type of decorated stoneware that was manufactured in Europe throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in the Cologne region in what is today western Germany. Bartmann means "bearded man", because of the bearded face mask appearing on the lower neck of the vessel. The English name for these jugs is 'Bellarmine jug', based on Cardinal Robert Bellarmine who lived around the year 1600 and was a fierce opponent of Protestantism,  so it might have been that the bearded face was a caricature of this man. Although the original Bartmann jugs were often glazed with a brownish salt glaze, I choose to use the Majolica technique in order to emphasize the details. It is ready to be fired now.