Daniel O’Toole

Multimedia artist

Naarm (Melbourne, Australia)

My work is about perception; how colour, light, sound, and space shape our experience of the world. Working across painting, photography, video, sound, and installation, I draw from the experimental spirit of the 1960s and 70s Light and Space movement while responding to the speed and intensity of contemporary visual culture.

I create large-scale colour field paintings that often sit behind frosted acrylic screens, with discreetly placed mirrors on the inside edges of the frame. These materials allow me to build perceptual experiences that shift as the viewer moves around them. Rather than presenting painting as a fixed image, I want the viewer to experience ‘seeing’ as an active engagement rather than a passive reception. Small changes in light, reflection, and position become part of the work itself, encouraging viewers to slow down and become more aware of their own perception.

Sound operates as a parallel exploration of space and embodiment. In Voices from the Void, nine resonant brass drums fitted with proximity sensors respond to the movements of visitors, generating shifting tuned frequencies that change through interaction. The installation becomes a participatory environment where sound behaves like a sculptural material, forming an invisible architecture shaped by presence and movement. The work draws on ideas explored by artists such as John Cage and Harry Bertoia, where sound, chance, and physical space become central to the experience.

Across all media, I am interested in creating works that heighten awareness of subtle sensory phenomena; moments where light, sound, and spatial relationships subtly transform our experience of a space. My practice is grounded in perception as both a personal and shared experience, shaped in part by living with Visual Snow Syndrome and synaesthesia. These conditions influence the way I experience rhythm, colour, movement, and sensory intensity, and underpin my ongoing interest in translating unstable or difficult-to-describe perceptual states into physical form.