Deliquescent Light by Daniel O'Toole
Deliquescent Light at Curatorial+Co, Redfern is an art exhibition that reaches out beyond the two dimensional with artworks that engage all the senses.
Words: Emma-Kate Wilson
Vapour Study 1 by Daniel O’Toole, from his current exhibition Deliquescent Light at Curatorial+Co.
“I bounce between modes of creating because I love working in a range of ways, with sound, photography, painting, design and video,” says Daniel O’Toole. Photo: James Whiting
With fourteen colour-field mixed media artworks, a soundtrack created by the artist himself, two immersive videos, plus a hand-painted take-home limited edition transparent vinyl, Daniel O'Toole’s Deliquescent Light is a multi-sensory experience at Curatorial + Co's Redfern warehouse, gallery.
Based in street-art filled Melbourne, Daniel is inspired by the light and space art movements of the 1960s and brings these aesthetics into Australia's digital era. The immersive experience of Anish Kapoor influenced this new series at Curatorial + Co, and later the transformative effect of James Turrell.
"This series feels like the first formal capturing of an idea that started for me in 2016," Daniel adds. "It was about creating an event that was time-based and interactive; I wanted people to feel a similar link to nature in the work."
The artist first began his practice with street art, which he describes as his ‘bread and butter’ for the last decade. Murals, site-responsive artworks to architecture and branding all seep into this category for Daniel.
“Working with scale and the dynamic landscape of the street is an interesting education and has informed my approach to painting on a technical level, but my studio practice has always been the haven for experimentation,” the artist explains. “It’s only recently that I have decided to interpret my colour-field paintings as a mural in the public space, and that took years of thought to arrive at.”
“One of my favourite things to film is sunlight shining through my water glass at the cafe and forming patterns and colours on my sketchbook page,” says Daniel O’Toole. Photo: Anne Graham
Refurbished Tranquility Study 2 by Daniel O’Toole, from his current exhibition Deliquescent Light at Curatorial+Co.
Vapour Study 2 by Daniel O’Toole, from his current exhibition Deliquescent Light at Curatorial+Co.
“In the early days [street art] was more subversive and illegal, but it’s been watered down by the commercial demand, and I think, over time, that takes some of the joy away from it.”
“The exhibition soundtrack consists of a collection of video soundscapes and additional compositions that were made to correspond with the show,” says Daniel O’Toole. Photo: Anne Graham
Sub Surface 1 by Daniel O’Toole, from his current exhibition Deliquescent Light at Curatorial+Co. Photo: Anne Graham
Composite Image Transcription by Daniel O’Toole, from his current exhibition Deliquescent Light at Curatorial+Co.
Daniel begins his practice by working with video and sound to create a moving painting. “These stills are re-interpreted as paintings, the soundtracks made for these types of videos, therefore, have an intrinsic link to the images," he adds. "I hope that the sounds feel well matched to the paintings and evoke an otherworldly atmosphere to make the experience of colour even more immersive."
Sound is a key element of the artist's practice, as his experience with synaesthesia allows him to see music in flashes of colour. "I seemed to have a stronger connection with [synaesthesia] as a child, but I still have unusual flashes of colour that enter my mind's eye with certain sounds and frequencies," he reveals. "I think mostly though I like to use my imagination and intuit the relationships between colours and sounds to form my own audio-visual language."
The translation into painting is a drawn-out process that involves weeks of video and sound components. Experimentation with light and space follows, as does a recent dabble with dye sublimation prints of aluminium and 'digital paintings'. These explorations into method and technique can be seen throughout Deliquescent Light; the final result both luminous and confusing.
“The moving image has become my digital sketchbook, and I use it to explore colour combinations and the relationship between sound and colour,” says Daniel O’Toole. His current exhibition Deliquescent Light at Curatorial+Co starts today. Photo: Anne Graham
VISIT
DELIQUESCENT LIGHT 10TH FEBRUARY - 20TH FEBRUARY 2021 CURATORIAL+CO. STUDIO 1, 175 CLEVELAND STREET REDFERN, SYDNEY