Hans Withoos’ career spans more than twenty years, during which he combined his commissioned work with his own projects. After graduating from the Arts Academy, he started a firm with Jolanda Cats, specializing in fashion, photography and commercial video. Their clients range from large corporations to non-profit organizations. Although highly successful in his commercial and international fashion work, he also is prolific in his independent work, making many photography series over the years, mostly situated in romantic and highly recognizable sites and cities around the world. Hans Withoos’ photography is set in the world of abundance and artifice-- the smell of decadence wafting towards the viewer. It is a world that is both familiar and different. In Withoos’ exaggerated scenes, the figures crowding the images become archetypes, and the viewer is overcome by a sense of alienation. The work is full of layered, staged images with idiosyncratic aesthetics. At times, the photographs evoke emotions related to suffering, sensuality and hidden oppressiveness; at other times, the images depict the complete opposite and are deliberately emotionless. Hans is a true storyteller. Sometimes his story is already carefully crafted, but often times it grows as an organism. Most of the stories he tells have a romantic veneer to them, but underneath the façade lies a gritty theme. His images don’t aim to show any particular critical perspective but, rather, they leave it up to the viewers to make their own interpretations.
