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Peter
Anderson's early work records a rarely-seen alternative '80s. Working closely
with his subjects - many of whom have since become household names - his
photographs capture the energy of an era when music, fashion and politics
first collided. It is a time that is still deeply influential today.
Anderson's huge, five foot by four foot photographic
prints currently sell alongside works by Warhol, Basquiat and Banksy. They
reflect a fascination with what is now called "Urban Art" that
started when the Royal College funded his first trip to New York, where he made iconic images of
early hip-hop street style. He is one of the few photographers who still uses
the dark room himself, working off industrial enlargers and custom made
equipment to produce his massive hand made prints.
Anderson's work is concerned with energy,
often translated into movement. Far from the careful, artful poses that often
characterize the image-conscious 80’s, these spontaneous shots reveal
the sheer vitality of the era. In retrospect it becomes a blur of ideas.
From music, Anderson moved on to other areas. His
portraits of film directors and actors, including Lindsay Anderson, Robert
Altman and John Hurt have been the subject of an exhibition. His shots of one
of his heroes, J.G.Ballard, presage a Ballardian interest in the car as
metaphor. Frieze magazine described a previous Anderson exhibition as "a passionate
exploration of the world of high performance cars in which landscape,
individuals and vehicles were joined in religious ecstasy." More recent
work includes powerful portraits of young men serving in the armed forces,
and photography of found objects made directly on old Devere and Lietz
enlargers, in the experimental spirit of early art photography, characterised
by Man Ray.
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Peter Anderson attended Glasgow School of Art and
the Royal College of Art, London. He
was a staff photographer at New Musical Express in the 1980s, and has also
worked for publications that include The Face, iD and Rolling Stone.
His exhibitions include Rock Star Portraits, Fukuoka,
Japan and Art Mix 802, Osaka, Japan (1992), Saatchi and Saatchi (1993 –
1995), CAR, The Chamber of Pop Culture (1999), Surveillance, Deptford X,
London (2003), Sanctuary at APT Deptford, London (2005),Photographs of Film
Directors, Greenwich Picturehouse, London (2007), Xposure, Deptford X
(2007),Urban Art, Bonhams (2008) Vision 21, Bonhams (2008/9/10) No
Inhibitions Lyon&Turnbull (2009)
Then And There, Here And Now. Deptford APT, April
(2010)
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Signed
copies of Peter Anderson’s book ‘Then and There, Here and
Now’ are available in the gallery for £20.00. ‘Then and
There, Here and Now’ includes portraits - some never before seen - made
while Anderson was a staff
photographer at New Musical Express. The subjects represent a Who's Who of music,
including Madonna, Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger, Tom Waits, Run DMC, Marvin Gaye,
Paul Weller and Blur's Damon Albarn. A young Bono stands with fists raised,
ready to take on the world. The Clash's late Joe Strummer gazes intently into
the lens in a haunting portrait taken on London train tracks.
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