| Scott Mutter | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1944 Park Ridge, Illinois |
| Died | March 5, 2008 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | BA History University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| Occupation | Photographer |
| Known for | Photomontage |
Scott Mutter (1944–2008) was an American photographer best known for the use of photomontage.
Contents |
Born to Charles and Lucille Mutter of Park Ridge, Illinois, he graduated from Maine East High School in Park Ridge in 1961. Mutter received a B.A. in history from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1966 and a master's degree in Chinese studies in 1968. He had no formal art training.
Most of Mutter's work was done with images of and around the Chicago area, with some of his earlier pieces incorporating scenes from Urbana-Champaign. Mutter was never comfortable with being considered a surrealist, and coined the term "Surrational Images" to describe his work.[1]
Mutter never transitioned to the cut and paste technique afforded by Photoshop and similar software but recreated every original print in the darkroom as he thought this was the only way that they were truly "originals". From the few existing originals of each piece he would select the one he considered the most appropriate for reproduction as posters.
Sergei Eisenstein, a Russian filmmaker (1898-1948) and author of two books, The Film Sense and Film Form: Essays in Film Theory, greatly influenced Mutter's ideas about photographic "montage", a technique of combining and superimposing images into a single picture. Mutter believed "there are theoretical reasons why a montage works or is something. But you have to also understand and keep your mind open to the fact that what works, works. That's the bottom line." His images were an attempt to represent something that is reality, but not a physical reality, but a representation through metaphor.
His work has been exhibited at the San Francisco International Airport and at the opening of the Beam Performing Arts Center in Tokyo. His photographs have appeared in magazines and newspapers including the Chicago Tribune, Herbert's, Japanese Avenue, and Print Magazine.