Born to a Japanese mother and a Nigerian father, Narumi Nekpenekpen (1998) was raised in both Kashiwa, Japan and Los Angeles, California. Nekpenekpen has exhibited in various group exhibitions including "INSIGHTS" at the University Art Museum, Long Beach, and is the recipient of the Olsen Ceramic scholarship. She is currently studying ceramics at California State University Long Beach under an impressive roster of contemporary ceramicists such as Jennie Jieun Lee, Tony Marsh, Christopher Miles and Ruby Neri. Nekpenekpen currently lives and works in Los Angeles.
In the work of Nekpenekpen, slab porcelain clay is pushed and pulled by hand into an assembled tableaux of personal allegory. Plump figures with “cutesy” wandering eyes, luscious lips, sparkling stars and hearts coexist with funky, weighty abstractions and interlocking figures wearing bulky heavy boots.
Patchworks of woven clay and clunky hand-modeled chains evoke and negotiate complexities of human history, the ontology of trauma and of self-introspection.
The sculpted relief of text becomes emblematic; like a physical graffiti embodying states of consciousness, while sgraffito notations on the hand-painted and glazed surfaces narrate from loose personal archives - championing the composited figures into tangible wholes.
Nekpenekpen refers to her protagonists as “bb’s,” a shorthand nickname for ‘Babies;’ a term of endearment that underscores the deep and personal relationship the artist has to her work. It is also a reminder that the nature of bisque clay as a raw material is inherently fragile, yet, when nurtured correctly - surprisingly resilient.
© 2025. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Narumi Nekpenekpen or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Ms. Narumi Nekpenekpen |
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| Work in progress |
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| Blueberry, 2019 |
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| Chain, 2019 |
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| Closed, 2019 |
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| Slump, 2019 |
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| Space, 2019 |
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| Untitled, 2019 |
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| Look, 2020 |
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| Sky tying hilltops, 2020 |
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| Star spanker, 2020 |
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| Angels with Dirty Faces, 2021 installation view |
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| BB, 2021 |
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| Biting into the sky, sands in greeting, 2021 |
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| Chipped tooth for a two(s), 2021 |
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| Paprika lova, busta…, 2021 |
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| Reflections on a stream, splinters through, 2021 |
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| We blinked together upon shooting stars, 2021 |
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| To kiss angel is to kill another, 2022 |
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| Sand prints, 2023 |
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| Swan’s song turn to dust, 2023 |
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| A sound and a stain, 2023 |
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| A sound and a stain, 2023 |
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| Circle cycle, 2023 |
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| Circle cycle, 2023 |
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| Embrace, 2023 |
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| Gallops soaked in reverb, 2023 |
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| In sunsets again, 2023 |
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| Sky tying hilltops, 2023 |
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| Spilling, 2023 |
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| Sunflower envy, 2023 |
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| Swan’s song turn to dust, 2023 |
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| xx, 2023 |
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