(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.
nl/en
Commissions
2025 Selected to design a work for Park Triangel, Waddinxveen
2025 ‘Podium’, permanent work in ‘Vresselse Bos’, Brabant
2025 Selected to pitch my work for Agora, new to build Primary School, Utrecht
2025 Selected to design a work for Wilhelminaplein, Rijen
2024 ‘Altaar’, permanent work at river Dommel, Sint-Oedenrode
2023 Selected to design a work for Boeimeerpark, Breda
2021 Research for Market square, Sint-Oedenrode
2018 ‘In Progress’, LAB Kalkhorst, Germany
Exhibitions
2027 Willem II, Den Bosch (solo)
2025 Schemerlicht, Audiovisueel Kunstfestival, Nijmegen
2025 NUDE projects, collaboration with deconstructie, Italy
2025 ‘Portal’, IJsselbiennale, Deventer
2025 ‘Silent Fragments’, Theatre Festival Oerol, Terschelling
2025 Street Art Zandvoort
2025 Kunstkade, Utrecht
2025 ‘Dressed for Space’, Form / 0-1, Den Haag / Amsterdam
2024 ‘Chapter I’, ‘I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore’, Amstelveen
2024 ‘Luwte’, ‘The Space You Occupy’, Paltz Biennale, 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 ‘untitled’, Landgoed Anningahof, Zwolle
2022 ‘Nomadic Folly’, Floriade World Expo, Almere
2022 ‘The Assemblage Of Descent’, Lisbon, Portugal
2022 ‘Lantana’, ‘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 Waddendijk, Hongerige Wolf Festival, Hongerige Wolf
2018 FestiValderaa, Schipborg, Drenthe
2017 Grasnapolsky Festival, Radio Kootwijk
Residencies
2025 If Paradise Is Half As Nice, Slovenia
2025 NUDE projects, collaboration with deconstructie, Italy
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
2025 Magazine, collaboration with deconstructie
2024 Lecture at KABK, Master Interiour Architecture (INSIDE), Den Haag
Education
2006-2011 Bachelor in Architecture, HU Utrecht