• Daniel O’Toole

    Multimedia Artist,

    Naarm (Melbourne), Australia

    My work begins with a desire to understand perception; how colour, light, sound, and spatial relationships converge to shape shifting experiences of the world. Mapping perception has become both a personal and communicative process, a way to translate the subtle and often intangible layers of my sensory reality into forms that others can encounter. Abstraction acts as my language for this translation, allowing me to express internal states and to build environments that heighten awareness, slow attention, and invite physical engagement. At its core, my practice examines the conditions that influence how we sense and understand our surroundings.

    Working across painting, photography, video, sound, and installation, I draw from the experimental ethos of the 1960s and 70s Light and Space movement while responding to the pace of contemporary visual culture. Industrial materials such as frosted acrylic, welded aluminium, and mirrored surfaces allow me to manipulate light by bending, scattering, or obscuring it in ways that activate the viewer’s role in completing the work. These materials produce subtle shifts that only become visible through movement and time, revealing evolving phenomena as the viewer adjusts their position. This situates the work within a lineage that treats perception not as passive reception but as an exchange between object, body, and environment. These works also form part of a broader research trajectory in which I study how visual and sonic stimuli interact with the body, and how perception can be activated, expanded, or disrupted through material intervention.

    The Refraction Painting series extends this approach through frosted acrylic screens, internal mirror inlays, and fields of colour. These elements create micro-events, kinetic distortions, soft diffractions, and colour vignettes that appear to multiply or dissolve at the margins. With the frosted surface removing a clear end point, colour seems to hover in ambiguous depth, carried around the frame by hidden mirrors and doubled at oblique angles. These effects reanimate the static image, turning looking into a physical, immersive encounter in which perception becomes materially present.

    Sound functions as a parallel inquiry into the spatial and embodied dimensions of experience. In Voices from the Void, nine resonant brass drums equipped with proximity sensors respond to visitors' movements, producing tuned frequencies that shift in relation to presence and proximity. The installation forms a participatory, ritual-like environment in which sound becomes sculptural, creating an invisible architecture shaped by collective interaction. Conceptually, the work echoes explorations by Max Neuhaus, John Cage, and Harry Bertoia, where sound is treated as a spatial medium and indeterminacy becomes essential to the encounter.

    These strategies also underpin the Noisy Eyes series, which translates my lived experience of Visual Snow Syndrome (VSS) into painterly terms. Rather than depict the phenomenon literally, the works evoke the cognitive pressure, rhythmic intensity, and fluctuating overload associated with VSS. The surfaces oscillate between chaos and clarity, creating a paradoxical state that is both overwhelming and calm. Synaesthesia further informs this cross-modal approach, allowing colour, sound, and movement to operate as intertwined languages for articulating the complexity and variability of perception.

    Across media, my practice aims to create environments where perception reveals itself; where small shifts in light, sound, or spatial context can reshape the viewer’s experience. Whether through optical instability or responsive sonic structures, I seek to build works that encourage presence, attunement, and deeper engagement with the subtle phenomena that shape the way we see, hear, and inhabit the world.

  • Daniel O'Toole

    Born 1984, Sydney, Australia

    Biography

    Daniel O'Toole, born in Sydney, Australia in 1984, is a Melbourne-based artist known for his multimedia works, including sculptural colour-field paintings, video art, and sound installations.

    O'Toole has studied at National Art School; completed a Diploma at SAE (School of Audio Engineering); and has held roles as the gallery director at 'Oh Really gallery' (Newtown/Syd), Soldiers Rd gallery (Surry Hills/Syd), and Alpha house gallery (Newtown/Syd).

    Integrating experimental electronic music/soundscapes into his exhibitions and video works, he designs environments for sensory engagement. He has curated community-driven electronic music compilations/events, and participated in artist residencies in Germany and France. His video work was shown at the Lyon Biennale and recent notable commissions include a custom video piece for Sydney Fashion Week, paintings for the Louis Vuitton store in Sydney International Airport, and paintings for Tiffany and Co Jewellery stores in Sydney and Melbourne.

    O'Toole has staged numerous solo exhibitions and been featured in curated group shows both in Australia and internationally. In 2023, O'Toole achieved a significant milestone with his first institutional exhibition at Benalla Art Gallery. The immersive and interactive sound installation Voices from the void attracted over 3000 unique visitors, showcasing his ability to engage audiences on a larger scale.

  • Education

    Graduated Highschool, International Grammar School 2002.

    Diploma of Audio Engineering SAE, Sydney, 2004

    Studied at National Art School, Sydney, 2007-2008

    Curatorial experience

    Curator, 'Alpha Gallery', Sydney 2017-2018

    Gallery director and founder at 'Soldiers Rd gallery', Sydney, 2012-2013

    Gallery director and founder at 'Oh really gallery' Sydney, 2008-2011

    Prizes

    Finalist ‘MAC Yapang Art Prize, Lake MAcquarie, 2025

    Finalist 'Omnia Art prize' VIC 2024. Finalist, ‘JADA, Jacaranda Acquisitive drawing award, Grafton regional gallery. 2024

    ‘National Photography prize'‘ Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA), NSW, March-Aug 2024.

    Finalist 'Omnia Art prize' VIC 2023.

    Finalist, 'Dobell drawing prize' 2023

    Finalist, 'Blue thumb art prize', Abstract painting category, 2022.

    Finalist 'Lethbridge small scale works prize' 2022.

    Finalist, 'Calleen Art Prize', Regional NSW, 2014,

    Finalist, 'Sunshine Coast Art Prize' QLD, 2014

    Selected Exhibitions

    Noisy Eyes, Solo exhibition, Backwoods Gallery, VIC, Aug 2025.

    Sentinels group exhibition, Saint Cloche Gallery, Sept 2025

    Cosmic Soup, Solo exhibition, Saint Cloche Gallery, Sydney, Feb 2025.

    ‘Immortal’ 10 year anniversary exhibition curated by Kitty Clark, Saint Cloche Gallery, Dec 2024.

    ‘On the limits of human cognition. Light and Shadow’,Immersive video installation, Krupa Art Foundation, Wrocław, Poland. Curator - Anna Stec, April-June 2024

    ‘In the Mix’ curated exhibition at Nationale 8 Galerie, Brussels/ Belgium, June 2024.

    Paxos Biennale, video installation titled ‘Eye of the butterfly’ June 2 - Oct 6, Paxos, Greece. 2024

    ‘Voices from the Void’ Sound installation, Museum of art and culture, Lake Macquarie, NSW, April-June 2024.

    ‘The Light Draws Along’, commissioned works made in collaboration with Alex Walker, for a curated exhibition at Incinerator, VIC, April-June, 2024.

    ‘Anti Lens’ in collaboration with Alex Walker for the ‘National Photography prize'‘, Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA), NSW, March-Aug 2024.

    ‘Voices from the Void’ Sound installation, Arts pace Realm, Ringwood, Melbourne, Feb-March 2024.

    ‘Eye music’Solo exhibition, Saint Cloche, Sydney Australia, Nov 2023.

    ‘Luminous Unknown’ Solo exhibition/album launch, Modern times, Melbourne, Australia, Aug, 2023.

    ‘Fahrenheit’ curated exhibition, Galerie John Ferrère, Paris, France, July 2023.

    ‘Summertime 23, 19th Edition’, curated exhibition, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Coppenhagen, Denmark. June/July 2023.

    'Warp and Ripple' Solo exhibition, National & Gallery, Brussels, Belgium, March 2023.

    "Voices from the void', sound installation, Benalla regional art gallery, Feb-April 2023,

    "Voices from the void' sound installation, Oigall projects, November 2022.

    'Tempered resolution', solo exhibition Curatorial and co, Sydney, Aug 2022.

    'Cascade Rumble' solo exhibition, Modern Time, Melbourne, Feb 2022.

    'Transitions' exhibition A.M Biiere, NYC 2022.

    'Deliquescent light' solo exhibition, Curatorial and Co, Sydnev, Feb 2021

    'Luxembourg art fair', showing with National 8 gallery (Brussels), 2020

    'Duality experiment', KSR Art bar, Melbourne, 2019

    'The long tomorrow', May Space, Sydney, 2018

    'Interruption' Black box, 'May Space' Waterloo. 2017

    'Echo Chamber' Biennale (Lvon/France) 2017

    'Broken Colour', Juddy Roller gallery, Melbourne 2017

    'Bending Light' Juddy Roller gallery Melbourne 2017.

    'Unrest' at Day Fine Art, Sydney, 2016

    'Tree Spirits' at Juddy Roller gallery, Melbourne 2015

    'Polaroid Painting' solo exhibition, China Heights Gallery 2014

    'Elements' Harrison Galleries, Sydney, 2011

    'Board' exhibition at the NGV 2011

    'Carriage Art Works' Carriage Works, Sydney 2009

    'Duality experiment' KSR Art bar, Melbourne, 2019

    'Volcano Toast', Black Cat/Happy Mag (Sydney/Melbourne),2019

    'New Lines' Rex Livingston, Sydney, 2013

    In Transit' (dual show with Matt Leslie at Soldiers Rd Gallery Aug 2013.

    'Berlin Residencv Show' 111 Tor Strasse Berlin Sept. 2013

    Residencies

    Q-Bank Residency, Queenstown, Tasmania 2018.


    111 Tor Strasse, Berlin, 2013

    Tavern Gutenburg, Lyon, France , 2017

    Commissioned Works

    Private commission for Union Art and design, USA, 2024.

    Custom artworks for Tiffany and Co, Sydney/Melb, 2023-2024.

    Custom artworks (Triptych) for Louis Vuitton, Sydney international Airport, 2022.

    Video installation commissioned for Sydney Fashion week, commissioned by Ginger and Smart, 2021.

    Two Story mural on King street for the New Theatre, Sydney, 2016


    Curation and participation in a large scale community mural project on Goddard street/ Newtown, Sydney, (ongoing) 2015-2019


    Two story mural, ’Doctor Morse’ Melbourne, 2016


    Two Story mural as part of Wall to wall Festival Benalla 2016


    Commissioned painting and video interview for NETFLIX promotional campaign 2015.


    Three story mural ,Art Walk Katoomba/NSW 2015


    Commissioned mural, Benalla Regional Gallery, Victoria, 2015.


    Live Painting mural at Cowra Regional Art Gallery March 2014.


    Public mural on Camden St. Newtown for Marrickville council 'Perfect Match project' 2014

    Commercial Mural at SAE (School of Audio Engineering York St. Sydney 2014
 Mural at ‘Venue 505’, Sydney, 2013


    Mural on Cleveland St Surry hills for Jazz Club/‘Venue 505’, Sydney, 2012


    100 metre long mural for Marrickville Council in Camperdown Oval/NSW. 2011


    Live Painting for Information and Cultural Exchange charity, Cockle bay wharf (sold through Sotherbys) 2010