Neil Frazer was born Canberra, Australia, in 1961 and in 1965 moved with his family to New Zealand, where he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury in 1985. He attended the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, New York, USA in 1986, and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree from the College of Fine Arts, Sydney, in 2000.
Frazer has created over thirty solo exhibitions in New Zealand and Australia since 1984, receiving many premier awards and fellowships in New Zealand and Australia, including the 1992 Frances Hodgkin's Fellowship at the University of Otago. His work is included in most major public, corporate and private collections in New Zealand including the National Bank, Fletcher-Challenge and the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu.