Sander Dekker - My Name Is Sander Dekker

On Saturday the 2nd of June opens My Name Is Sander Dekker, a solo exhibition by
photographer Sander Dekker at TORCH gallery in Amsterdam. One part of the exhibition
shows photo's that belong to the ongoing series 'The Project', while the other part is an
installation called 'TenFifteen', consisting of thousands of tiny photographs. The style of
Dekker is easily recognizable, due to his working method that could be described as
spontaneous and playful. When shooting, Dekker does not know how the photos will turn
out in the end, as he always tries to capture the unexpected.
‘The Project’ is an ongoing series of portraits created by Sander Dekker from 2011
onwards. His subjects are never his friends or acquaintances, but people he finds on
social media. He chooses people he admires as his subjects: outgoing, spontaneous, and
always a bit eccentric. He contacts them to ask if he can photograph them at home, then
books a ticket and gets on the plane. Raging through their house together, Dekker
captures the high energy of that first encounter. A shoot usually last for an hour or so,
before he’s off to his next visit. Meeting his models just before the session and working
without a preconceived concept, creates the spontaneity that is distinctive of Dekker’s
work. It results in great compositions and surprising crops that reflect the freedom and
expressiveness of the people in front of his camera. When trying to capture
their personalities, it’s almost as if Dekker hopes that these qualities will rub off on him. Yet
after all these years, he prefers to stay behind the camera, where he can admire their
eccentric beauty and pay tribute to them through his pictures.
When arrived at the back of the gallery, you are entirely surrounded by thousands of black
and white photo's. All of them being ten by fifteen centimetre (hence the name 'TenFifteen')
they cover the surface like unique wall tiles. They offer an astonishing impression of the life
and complete work of Dekker since the pictures are collected from his 'The Project', private
pictures, travel documentation and commissioned work. By means of a telescope, one can
zoom in on one specific photo to get a closer look, or using one of the available enlarging
glasses. The photo's of this installation can be acquired by squire meter, where after
Dekker will install them on your wall himself. Or just pick the one(s) you like and have them
floating in a frame.
As an extra, there will be twenty-five unique signed and numbered 'magic photo mugs',
that only reveals the photo on it, when pouring in a hot drink. This way it will stay a
surprise until you got home which photo you bought.
Two of the mugs will be given away to the two people who discover as first the pictures
that are used double in the installation 'TenFifteen'.
Sander Dekker (Amsterdam, 1980) lives and works in Amsterdam. His work was featured in many
magazines including Juxtapoz, Le Petit Voyeur and Purple France and in articles on platforms like
VICE. Also, he published two books himself. Right since the start of 'The Project', the work of Dekker
has been exhibited at different gallery shows and art fairs in Amsterdam, Germany and the UK.