A Decline From The Norm

A Decline From The Norm brings the viewer to the dreamscape of Hans Withoos' series: Lady With Her Golden Toys, featuring meticulously layered photographs that create a fantasy world of luxury and excess. About A Decline From The Norm brings the viewer to the dreamscape of Hans Withoos' series: Lady With Her Golden Toys. This series invites the viewer to a world filled with an abundance of beauty, luxury, and over indulgence. These photos are meticulously layered, giving a painterly feel and creating a fantasy that seems almost otherworldly. All these elements create a sense of decadence on a superficial level and a more insightful one when the viewer observes closer. Withoos' professional experience in the commercial and fashion world of photography allows him to capture vivid scenes that consume the viewer with extravagance. This specific series of works introduce the viewer to a fairytale of a woman with her "golden boy toys." It focuses on the strength of the woman, a world in which women have all the power. Withoos collaborated with Brazilian designer Fernando Silva who was in charge of the dresses that the women were presented in, giving the women a sense of authority in their presence with their luxurious appearance. The men are both objectified in portrayal and description, having them be shown nude and referred to as "toys" in the title. This creates a gynarchist fantasy giving all authority to the women and men being seen as disposable, a complete contrast to the patriarchal foundations of our own society. The luxurious scenery and excessive elements like the abundance of food in Table at Moonlight, gives the sense that the women in this fantasy are overindulging in their power in a very superficial sense. This abundance creates a decadent feminist view on top of the shallow depravity of morality, with the women having a more consumer-driven sense of power that strays away from traditional feminist goals of equality. The seven deadly sins also appearing in certain scenes, Dinnertime, Smoker's Room depicting pride with the lady on the couch surrounded by her boys, add to the decadent nature of the women. Withoos' use of these components allow the viewer to step into a world of immoderation. He gives an opportunity for the viewer to interpret different views of decline when one gives themselves to the extreme. The exhibition's title, A Decline From The Norm, not only refers to the shallow presence of moral decline being depicted in these works but also the philosophical and systematic decline that can be observed when comparing this fantasy to our own reality. A Decline From The Norm gives the viewer a chance to experience an aesthetic realm of depravity through these photographic paintings. Withoos's showcase of abundance invites the viewer to an experience that is not feasible. A world in which the radical is allowed to roam free without consequence and giving opportunity to the viewer to interpret that decadence for themselves. Curation and statement by Luis Gonzalez Photography