187 - Bryan Schutmaat

Bryan Schutmaat is an American photographer based in Austin, Texas whose work has been widely exhibited and published. He has won numerous awards, including a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the Aperture Portfolio Prize, and an Aaron Siskind Fellowship. Bryan’s prints are held in many collections, such as Baltimore Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Pier 24 Photography, Rijksmuseum, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. With his friend and fellow photographer Matthew Genitempo, he co-founded the imprint, Trespasser. On episode 187, Bryan discusses, among other things: How Grays The Mountain Sends was influenced by poet Richard Hugo and the landscape of Montana and the American west.The connection between the state a person is from and the sterotype of what that meansWhy the American west ‘breaks his heart’How his dad shaped his view of the working classFinding the commonalities between people and placeGood Goddamn and the freedom of switching to 35mm from large formatThe close relationship between photography and poetryPunk rock ethos as applied to TrespasserHis experience of the Hertford MFA programThe pros and cons of talking about your work as an artistVesselsNFTs Referenced: Richard HugoWallace StegnaGeoff DyerThe 25th HourTownes van ZandtWillie NelsonNelson ChanMike MillsSpike JonzeMinor ThreatSalad Days (documentary)Matthew GenitempoJohn CassavettesFive Easy PiecesJ CarrierTim CarpenterCarl WooleyRobert LyonsMary FryAlec SothJustine KurlandLois ConnorRobert AdamsIngmar BergmanNomadlandThe Thin Red LineSaving Private RyanThe Grapes of WrathPablo CabadoLeon BridgesAbigail Varney Website | Instagram “I think in this new space of iPhones and NFTs - I’m looking down at my iPhone right now - that’s just an undignied way to look at photographs you’ve put a lot of time and effort into. So the pictures on my website of installation shots or of books are just to remind people that what you’re looking at on screen is a very compromised version of what these pictures oughta be… it’s basically telling the viewer that, if you can, I would like this website to be a stepping stone to experience the book or the exhibition. It’s just sort of attempting to remind people that prints and physical tactile things matter in this digital age. So I don’t want to see that lost.”