Scott Mutter, 1944-2008
For the longest time, the late Expanded Cinema guru Ron Epple has been an enigma to me, especially since his short-film activity in Champaign-Urbana ceased way before the age of Internet research and obsessive documentation. Now, an Expanded cohort that I was unfamiliar with has also left this mortal coil.
Chicago photographer Scott Mutter became well-known through his high-contrast montages, but local residents who knew him during his days as a student and novice shutterbug in C-U remember much more. Among other activities, Mutter interacted with radical leftist groups, studied Chinese culture, philosophised with cafe patrons, and assisted Epple with Expanded, a kind of counter-culture booking agency that brought many seasons of underground, experimental, and foreign films to the University of Illinois campus during the Sixties and Seventies. Man, those were the days…
~ Jason Pankoke
Click to read: Scott Mutter article in The News-Gazette
Click to read: Scott Mutter obituary in Chicago Sun-Times
Click to read: Scott Mutter salute by Seth Fein at Smile Politely
Click to read: On-line gallery of “Surrational Images” by Scott Mutter