Background information
"This book, 'Two Blue Buckets. Director's Cut', means a lot to me – because of the pictures, because of the special personality that Peter FRASER is for me and because of the circumstances that led to this publication. (...)
To deal with this work again after 30 years was a great and highly emotional experience for everybody involved.
Alan WARD, the designer of the first edition 30 years ago, also took care for the 'Director´s Cut' of 'Two Blue Buckets' in a very thoughtful way.
Gerry BADGER, who has written frequently about Peter Fraser’s work before, has contributed a new essay and David Campany sat down with Peter Fraser for a conversation that is also included in this magnificent new book." (© Hannes Wanderer, Peperoni Books)
"In the 1970s, Peter FRASER studied photography at the Manchester Polytechnic in England, and began to work in colour early. The first exhibition with his colour photographs dates back to the year 1982.
At the same time, other British photographers began photographing in colour, including Martin PARR, Paul GRAHAM, and Peter MITCHELL, who, although they were pushing the boundaries of the medium, always followed a documentary approach.
Not Peter FRASER’s cup of tea. But it took a two-month visit to William EGGLESTON in Memphis to give him certainty and the confidence to be a colour photographer and cut his own path.
That’s what he did. From 1983 to 1987 he photographed the series 'Twelve Day Journey', 'The Valleys Project', 'Everyday Icons' and 'Towards an Absolute Zero'. They were exhibited and led to the publication of the original version of the book 'Two Blue Buckets' in 1988.
Freed from the feeling of having to make a defined statement with pictures, convinced by the idea that there is no hierarchical order between great and small things and inspired by the thought that our unconscious mind can apprehend much more than our everyday consciousness, he could photograph everything – and did it.
A pile of stones, a cut flower in a bottle, a red suitcase in the luggage rack, cows on the meadow, a biscuit box, a light bulb, or just two blue buckets. Certainly the pictures are also very, very good in formal and technical respects, especially with regard to the handling of colour. But that is not the point. The intensity of the dialogue is decisive. Here are the things that are simply there, on the other hand the photographer, who asks beyond the practical use and value of things: Why?. Why are you here right now, why do you look like you look, and what does that have to do with me and the rest of the universe?
In 'The Valleys Project' we also see how much his personal history was informing his perception and this dialogue. The motifs are also everyday here: a staircase, balloons, a car, and they glow with pain, distress and also excitement." (© Hannes Wanderer, Peperoni Books)
Other publications by Peter FRASER:
'Peter Fraser. Tate Monograph' (2013)
'A City in the Mind' (Steidl, 2012)
'Lost for Words' (Ffotogallery, 2010)
'Nazraeli Monograph, Peter Fraser' (2006)
'Peter Fraser, The Photographers’ Gallery (2003)
'Material' (Steidl, 2002)
'Deep Blue* (Viewpoint, 1997)
'Ice and Water' (Hockey/Cornerhouse, 1993)
'Two Blue Buckets' (Cornerhouse, 1988)
About the photographer, Peter FRASER (b.1953 in Cardiff, Wales):
Peter FRASER acquired his first camera at the age of 7, and after a false start studying Civil Engineering, at 18, began studying photography at Manchester Polytechnic the following year.
In the summer of '74 he lived in New York and worked at the Laurel Photography Bookstore at 32nd St and 6th Avenue which significantly expanded his sense of photography’s expressive possibilities.
FRASER graduated in 1976 after repeating his 3rd year due to major illness while photographing in West Africa.
Fraser lived in Holland and Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, before moving back to Manchester in 1981. He then began working with a Plaubel Makina camera in 1982 which led to an exhibition with William EGGLESTON at the Anolfini, Bristol in 1984, and a move to that city.
In summer 1984 FRASER travelled to Memphis, USA to spend nearly two months with William EGGLESTON which confirmed for him the desire to commit his life to working with colour photography.
FRASER then worked on several series of photographs, often with support from the Arts Council, leading to a first publication, ‘Two Blue Buckets’, which won the Bill Brandt’ Prize in London (the precursor of the CitiBank International Photography Prize), in 1988.
He moved to London in 1990, subsequently publishing several new bodies of work, including ‘Ice and Water’ (1993), ‘Deep Blue’ (1997), ‘Material’ (2002), and ‘Peter Fraser’ (2006).
In 2002, The Photographers’ Gallery, London, staged a 20 year survey exhibition of FRASER’s work (accompained with a catalogue), and he was short listed for the Citigroup International Photography Prize in 2004.
In 2006 he was invited to be an Artist in Residence at Oxford University, England and produced new work for permanent installation in their new Biochemistry building.
In 2009 FRASER was given a major commission by The Ffotogallery, Wales, to return to his country of birth, to make new work for a solo exhibition at the gallery, which opened in March 2010, with a new publication, ‘Lost For Words’.
In 2008 Fraser began working on ‘A City In The Mind’ a new series of photographs in London, which was shown at Brancolini Grimaldi Gallery, London in May 2012 accompanied by a Steidl Publication.
From January to May 2013, Tate St Ives held a retrospective of Fraser’s career, and Tate published a major monograph on the whole of Fraser’s career with a text by David CHANDLER.
In 2014 FRASER was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Photographic Society, UK.
FRASER has taught widely in the UK on Photography and Fine Art courses at all levels since 1982, including Central St Martins, London, Belfast, Nottingham, Brighton, Cardiff, Bristol, Edinburgh, Stockport, Newport, Swansea, Sheffield, Plymouth, Southampton, Bournmouth, Exteter, Hull, Leicester, Canterbury and Falmouth.
Additonally he has given presentations on his work in venues ranging from Manchester City Art Gallery and the 2010 Brighton Photography Biennial to Tate Britain, London.
- Ed(s)/Author(s)
- Gerry Badger
- Book design
- Alan WARD
- Format
- HC (no dust jacket, as issued), 28,5 x 28,5 cm., 88 pp., 47 color ills., text language: English