Mario Zoots

Faith in Strangers

2017

Mario Zoots (b.1981) is one of the leading artists in modern photographic collage and appropriation. Employing vintage commercial photographs and old Hollywood film stills with a mixture of his own photography, Zoots creates seductive and fascinating collages that bear qualities of Surrealism and Dada. The photographic collage work of Mario Zoots is both disturbing and enthralling, like a sick joke you’re not supposed to laugh at or like a fun nightmare. The work feels as familiar as much as it does chaotic -- almost confusing but with plenty of color and humor. Repetition, displacement, and the role of re-imagination are recurring themes in his work. Mario Zoots received his Masters of Art from the University of Denver and currently teaches New Media Art at Metropolitan State University. In August of 2013, he participated in the Biennial of the Americas with a public artwork, creating a unique collage that was printed and exhibited on a billboard on a major street in Denver, CO. Zoots’ work has been exhibited internationally since 2010 when he created an installation at the Museum of Image + Sound in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Mario Zoots has also had his work published in two hardcover books on the topic of collage, The Age of Collage: Contemporary Collage in Modern Art, published by Gestalten in Berlin, Germany, ISBN: 978-3-89955-483-0 and Cutting Edges: Contemporary Collage, published by Gestalten, Berlin, Germany, ISBN: 978-3-89955-338-3.