Waschkau studied sculpture at the Aachen University of Applied Sciences (Department of Design) from 1985 to 1992 and fine art and sculpture at the Berlin University of the Arts (now UDK Berlin) from 1992 to 1995. In 1995 he was a master student of Joachim Schmettau. In 1996 he received a scholarship from the Kulturfonds Foundation. From 2002, Waschkau regularly visited Japan, where he lived and worked mainly in Osaka. Since 2011, he has been traveling to China to get to know the country, work and exhibit there. He is a member of the Deutscher Künstlerbund. Detlef Waschkau lives and works in Berlin.
Detlef Waschkau translates everyday urban life into artistic works made of wood and paint, blurring the boundaries between painting and sculpture. Scenes from Berlin inspire him just as much as snapshots from Japanese or Chinese cities, where he has spent several working visits.
Waschkau painstakingly carves the facades of houses, people hurrying through the streets and close-ups of passers-by, as if they had been taken secretly, into wood. He colors the reliefs sparingly and breaks them up with lines and areas of color to create the impression of collages. In this way, Waschkau creates delicate compositions in which the wood is both material and motif.