Building on the Los Angeles ‘Light and Space’ movement of the 1960’s, Daniel O’Toole’s work is positioned in the post-digital context of contemporary Australia. Working across the mediums of painting, video, sound and installation, he blurs the lines between disciplines – always looking for an outcome which unites the various aspects of his practice in a cohesive way.

O’Toole’s work embraces imperfection and low-resolution modes of recording as an aesthetic decision, making videos of natural phenomena to use as a reference for paintings. Inspired by personal experiences of synaesthesia, he seeks to deliver a connected dialogue between sensory modes of communication; primarily between colour and sound.

Born in Sydney 1984, O’Toole grew up in a musical family and was first taught to draw and paint by his Mother Linda O’Toole. Fortifying his interests in painting at National Art School and going on to open a shopfront gallery post study, O’Toole quickly became a community leader and public figure as a mural painter and events organiser in the creative Sydney hub of Newtown. O’Toole was a director of ‘Oh Really gallery’ for 3 years from 2008-2011, and went on to run a second gallery ‘Soldiers Road gallery’ (2012-2013) in Surry hills.

Having left the role of gallery director to focus on an art making practice O’Toole has since exhibited regularly around Australia in over 30 exhibitions since the beginning of his professional career in 2008. He has shown at the National Gallery of Victoria, and the Art Gallery of Benalla, performed live painting at the Powerhouse Museum and worked internationally on residency programs in Berlin and Lyon. O’Toole showed a video piece in an exhibition in Lyon titled ‘Ici maintenant’ (here now) and was part of the 2017 Lyon Biennale.

More recently, O’Toole has had a sell out show with Curatorial and Co, Sydney, and in September 2021 was part of the Brussels Affordable Art Fair, Belgium, represented by Nationale 8 Gallery.

Portrait of O’Toole by James Whiting.