Frederic Dekkal: Tokyo Encounters. A photographic exhibition at the Centrepointe Theatre Gallery

By Hank Reardon.

Frederic Dekkal, an award-winning French photographer, will present his latest work Tokyo Encounters, a series of 25 photographs shot in the streets of Tokyo, at the Centrepointe Theatre Gallery from July 30 to August 21, 2013.

Tokyo Encounters strives to show a more authentic Tokyo, focused on the general atmosphere in the streets, rather than landmarks or a specific situation. Like haiku poetry, it is about a visual sensation. The graphic nature and colour of the images is reminiscent of the Japanese aesthetic sense, paradoxically searching for perfection in a chaotic world. Dekkal’s framing of the images reinforces this sense of perfection, erasing imperfections from view. Beyond a simple homage to the city, the visual repetition in the images – like the symbols on the ground – brings a certain universality to the photographs: wandering, the search for bearings, urban solitude.

Tokyo is just a backdrop. Identities are blurred, going in multiple directions.

An editorial and commercial photographer, Dekkal began his career as a freelance photojournalist in Paris. Trained in lighting at the Verdier Centre in Paris in 2006, he then worked at the Lagardère Press studio (for ELLE, ELLE Déco, ELLE à Table, Paris Match…) where he specialized in still life and food photography.

Now based in Ottawa, Dekkal divides his time between commercial studio assignments, corporate events coverage and personal work. He is the author of various photographic art projects exhibited in France (Mouvements de Passage, 2009; The 4 Elements, 2007), Canada  (A Day in Shibuya, 2005; Montreal, 2005) and Japan (Faces of Japan Through Foreigners’ Eyes, 2004).

“Colour, often highly saturated, plays an active role in my compositions,” Dekkal says. “It brings a visual and symbolic contrast to the themes depicted in my work, such as solitude, a spiritual quest, disorientation, passages, still versus motion.”

For more information and past exhibitions/projects, visit www.fdekkalphoto.com