Peter Hutton

Filmmaker Peter Hutton studied painting, sculpture and film at the San Francisco Art Institute. He has produced more than twenty films, most of which are portraits of cities or landscapes around the world. He uses minimal means in his approach to filmmaking, shooting black and white silent imagery with a 16 mm camera mounted on a tripod. Reminiscent of the early single-shot movies of the Lumière brothers, his films present a series of extended discrete views separated by black leaders. While the apparent lack of movement in many shots may initially evoke still photography, even the least active of Hutton's images subtly evolve, creating a mysterious and haunting effect. The serene landscapes often contain a strong undertone of environmental disturbance that confronts our desire for imagery of pristine nature. Peter Hutton is the recipient of numerous awards including the Guggenheim fellowship and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has been the director of the Film and Electronic Arts Program at Bard College in New York since 1985. Many of his films have been shown in institutions such as the Whitney Biennial in New York, the Museum of Modern Art of New York, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, the New York Film Festival and the Rotterdam Film Festival.