Hans Withoos
Hans Withoos (geb. 1962, Son en Breugel, Nederland) is een Nederlandse beeldend kunstenaar en fotografisch schilder wiens werk gelaagde, gestileerde fotografie combineert met een fantasierijke, surrealistische compositie. Opgeleid in textielontwerp en fotografie aan de Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Tilburg, heeft hij een internationale carrière opgebouwd die meer dan 35 jaar omvat, waarbij hij opdrachten voor fotografie balanceert met zijn onafhankelijke artistieke praktijk. Withoos' paradepaardjes, zoals Withoos meets Withoos, verweven historische verwijzingen naar zijn 17e-eeuwse voorvader, de schilder Matthias Withoos, met hedendaagse surrealistische beelden, waardoor levendige en symbolische werelden ontstaan die navigeren tussen schoonheid, drama en narratief. Hij woont en werkt in Rotterdam, exposeert veelvuldig in musea en kunstbeurzen, en zijn werk wordt internationaal verzameld.
Biography
Over more than three decades, Withoos has developed a multifaceted career that encompasses both commercial and fashion commissions for clients around the world and fiercely autonomous artistic work. He is best known for his photographic paintings, meticulously orchestrated and digitally layered images that evoke dreamlike worlds of abundance, artifice, and symbolic resonance. His work reflects a deep fascination with the multifaceted nature of beauty, from drama, light, and the human form to themes of suffering and transcendence, inviting the viewer to immerse themselves in narratives that are both familiar and otherworldly.
Een fundamenteel fundament van Withoos' artistieke praktijk is de voortdurende serie Withoos meets Withoos, waarin hij een creatieve dialoog aangaat met de 17e-eeuwse Nederlandse schilder Mathias Withoos, zijn verre voorvader. Door stillevens, stadsgezichten en symbolische motieven uit historische schilderkunst te integreren in hedendaagse fotografische composities, vaak bevolkt met modellen, bloemen, vogels en surrealistische elementen, weeft Withoos moeiteloos verleden en heden, traditie en innovatie samen.
Throughout his career, Withoos has explored inclusivity and diversity through his projects, reflected in series such as New Romantics, My Name is Blessing, and Proud People, alongside collaborations with designers, dancers, and filmmakers. His work extends beyond the still image; he co-created
Artist Statement
Hans Withoos' work resides at the intersection of imagination, memory, and visual storytelling. His photographic paintings are meticulously staged and digitally layered images that blend reality and fiction, past and present. Each composition functions as a world unto itself, where narrative, symbolism, and beauty coexist to provoke curiosity, reflection, and emotional resonance.
A defining element of his practice is the dialogue between history and contemporary life. In the series Withoos meets Withoos, he draws inspiration from his 17th-century ancestor, the painter Matthias Withoos, reinterpreting historical still lifes and urban landscapes through a modern lens. The overlapping motifs of nature, human presence, and symbolic objects create images that are both familiar and otherworldly.
Withoos' work combines technical precision with poetic imagination. Each photograph is carefully composed yet open to interpretation, inviting the viewer to delve into visual narratives that are both personal and universal. His exploration of beauty, light and shade, fragility and abundance, presence and absence, produces images that linger long after the first glance.
Ultimately, his art fosters connection: between past and present, reality and imagination, and artist and viewer, encouraging reflection, wonder, and a deeper appreciation of the stories that shape our perception of the world.
