(1988) lives and works in Utrecht, the Netherlands 

Felipe studied architecture and turned to the visual arts shortly after his graduation. With architecture as his background, he creates large spatial installations and sculptures. At the heart of his practice is a focus on the fragile side of architecture. 

His inspiration comes from buildings in which the tipping point between materiality and meaning is made tactile: buildings under construction or in decay, a half-finished structure or the back of a facade. Felipe is fascinated by the precise moments at which sacredness appears in architectural form. His works present themselves often as indefinite and unfinished, as snapshots of this search towards something higher, captured in time.

In his work, Felipe van Laar architecturally occupies space with the intention of providing space. Space for retreat, for stillness, for a sense of transcendence. Felipe explores the moment where space acquires significance: the feeling we sometimes experience when we enter a chapel during a vacation, but which can also occur in places like an abandoned bleacher in a grassy field or a stage in the village square. Places where there is an emptiness, where you sense that something may have just happened or is yet to take place. They are not filled and serve as an invitation to add something, to occupy the space, to make use of it.
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Commisions
2024   ‘Podium’, permanent work in ‘Vresselse Bos’

2024   ‘Altaar’, porminent work at river Dommel, Sint-Oedenrode
2021    Research for Market square, Sint-Oedenrode
2018    LAB Kalkhorst, ‘In Progress’, Germany

Exhibitions

2027   Willem II, Den Bosch (solo)
2025   IJsselbiennale, Deventer
2025   Theatre Festival Oerol, Terschelling

2024   ‘I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore’, Amstelveen
2024   Paltz Biennale, ‘The Space You Occupy’, Soest
2024   ‘What Remains’, De Spelonk, Den Haag (solo)
2023   ‘Baptismal Font’, Recreational Grounds VII, London, England
2023   Prospects and Concepts, Art Rotterdam, Van Nelle Fabriek, Rotterdam
2022   Landgoed Anningahof, Zwolle
2022    ‘Nomadic Folly’, Floriade World Expo, Almere
2022   ‘The Assemblage Of Descent’, Lisbon, Portugal
2022    ‘035’, PADA gallery, Barreiro, Portugal
2022    ‘De Profundis’, installation at Oerol, Terschelling
2021    ‘Paradise’, Garden Art Route, InTuinen, Amersfoort
2021    ‘Your Playground’, Arti et Amicitiae, Museumnacht, Amsterdam
2021    OCTA II (Or Call This Art), Kunstliefde, Utrecht
2021    KunstKoers, De Nijverheid, Utrecht
2020   OCTA I (Or Call This Art), Maakhaven, Den Haag 
2020   UtrechtDownUnder, Utrecht 
2020   ‘Narthex’, Nieuwe Aarde (Bijbels Museum) Westerkerk, Amsterdam 
2020   ‘2D’, ACEC, Apeldoorn
2020   ‘Apsis’, EXbunker, Utrecht (solo)
2019    Galerie Pouloeuff, Naarden
2019    ‘Wall’, Moira, Utrecht (solo)
2019    ‘Exploded View’, VHDG, Leeuwarden (solo) 
2019    Big Art, Hembrugterrein Zaanstad, with Galerie Logman
2019    Centraal Laat, Whatchamacallit, Centraal Museum, Utrecht
2019    ‘Stowaway’, Cinetol / Tolbar, Amsterdam 
2019    ‘Stairway’, Kunstschouw, Zeeland
2018    Galerie Waarkunst, ‘t Waar, Groningen
2018    Hongerige Wolf Festival, Hongerige Wolf
2018    FestiValderaa, Schipborg, Drenthe 
2017    Grasnapolsky Festival, Radio Kootwijk

Residencies
2023   Ruimtetijd, Fort Penningsveer, Haarlemmerliede
2022   PADA Studio’s spring/summer residency, Barreiro, Portugal 
2019    Masterclass Gallery Pouloeuff, Naarden
2019    VoorheenDeGemeente, Leeuwarden
2018    LAB Kalkhorst, Germany

Scholarships
2022    Project funding, Mondrian Fund
2022    Gerbrandy Culture Fund 
2020    Stipendium Emerging Artists, Mondrian Fund
2020    Amarte Fund, Amsterdam

Related activities
2024   Lecture at KABK, Master Interiour Architecture (INSIDE), Den Haag

Education
2006-2011 Bachelor in Architecture, HU Utrecht