Casper Waaijer Dutch, b. 1995
“My work begins with the structures around us — façades, infrastructure, repeated patterns and the colours that interrupt them.”
Casper Waaijer (1995) is a Dutch artist whose work draws on architecture, infrastructure and the visual rhythms of the built environment. Influenced by Brutalism and everyday structures such as façades, concrete surfaces and street furniture, he translates architectural patterns into compositions of colour, line and material.
Working across painting, screenprint, tufting and woven constructions made with industrial strapping, Waaijer explores the boundary between image and object. Repetition, structure and material tension are recurring elements in a practice that moves between abstraction, architecture and textile.
In 2026, Waaijer was selected as a finalist for the Singer Laren Young Talent Award and received the John & Marine van Vlissingen Art Foundation Prize.
“The green, blue and yellow of the Dutch landscape, interrupted by bright orange or pink, together with grey concrete, unusual bus shelters, façades and even manhole covers, have pushed me to experiment with new combinations of colour, material and structure.”
— Casper Waaijer
Casper Waaijer (1995) is a Dutch artist whose practice is rooted in an observation of architecture, infrastructure and the patterns of the everyday built environment. Block-like structures, façades, concrete surfaces, metal constructions and repeated architectural elements become starting points for abstract compositions in which colour, rhythm and material are brought into tension.
Waaijer works across different techniques and materials, including painting, screenprinting, wool tufting and woven constructions made from industrial strapping. Rather than treating these as separate disciplines, he uses each material for its particular physical qualities. Woven straps create grids, openings and tension; tufted wool introduces density and tactility; while painting and screenprinting allow architectural forms and repeated motifs to be reduced to line, plane and colour.
Brutalist architecture is an important point of reference, particularly its emphasis on structure, repetition and exposed material. At the same time, Waaijer draws from the less monumental architecture of daily life: Dutch façades, roads, street furniture, bus shelters, infrastructure and patterns encountered while moving through the city and landscape. His palette similarly emerges from these surroundings, combining greens, blues and yellows with the grey of concrete and occasional flashes of orange or pink.
This interest in construction gives the work an architectural quality. Surfaces are built rather than simply depicted, and the distinction between painting, textile and object is deliberately left open. Cuts, gaps and woven passages expose the underlying structure and allow the wall or surrounding space to become part of the composition.
Waaijer is self-taught as an artist. After studying at Nyenrode Business University and initially working in sales, he chose to pursue his artistic practice independently. In 2026, he was selected as a finalist for the Singer Laren Young Talent Award and received the John & Marine van Vlissingen Art Foundation Prize.
His work reflects a contemporary form of geometric abstraction in which architecture is not simply represented but translated into material, rhythm and structure.
Selected publications, interviews and press:
Singer Laren, Young Talent Award, 2026.
John & Marine van Vlissingen Art Foundation, Prize recipient, 2026.
Further bibliography forthcoming.