Scott Mutter

Artist Biography

Scott Mutter is an American photographer from Chicago who has been around for thirty years now. Mutter received a B.A. in history from the University of Illinois at Urbana Campaign in 1966 and a master's degree in Chinese also from the same University in 1968. Mutter is known for creating art, prints and posters through the use of a classical technique (photomontage) that creates a world of his own through photography. His work is known as "Surrational Images'. According to Cassandre Creswell her interview with Scott Mutter, "he is known for his images rather than his words'. Mutter says he's "never had any background in art. He didn't have any classes in art. He didn't have any particular interest in art and had never held a camera in his hand, even though for two different summers in college he went to Europe.' Mutter has jumped from an interest in Chinese history to film-making and photography.

His art, prints and posters have been exhibited across the world, such as, the San Francisco International Airport, and at the opening of the Beam Performing Arts Center in Tokyo. Furthermore, his photographs have appeared in magazines and newspapers including the Chicago Tribune, Herbert's, Japanese Avenue, and Print Magazine. Through his images, Mutter wants to represent something that is reality, but not a physical reality. It's a type of reality that is a representation through a way we are metaphorically. He began to figure out what type of visual form he was going to constitute in his work. Mutter did an immense amount of research on the work of Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein.

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” and art, prints and posters, a technique of combining and superimposing images into a single picture. Mutter believes "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.”

Scott Mutter Art, Prints and Posters Collection