Dan McDonnell's work highlights the materiality of today's digital screens and display technologies in order to bring attention to their corporeal effects. The intense 'opticality' characteristic of today's display devices is referenced through McDonnell's use of the moiré pattern, which featured significantly in the Op Art movement of the 1950s and '60s. McDonnell employs the moiré pattern not only for its optical effects, but also for its capacity to form spatial relationships with viewers. The body was the 'blind spot' in Op art's fetishization of visuality, becoming symbolic of its technological optimism. In McDonnell's work, this mode of engagement is situated within the context of contemporary digital culture, bringing attention to how ubiquitous screen-based technologies control the body by enchanting the eye.
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Dan was selected to exhibit in the 2015 Hatched National Graduate Show held at PICA - Perth Institute of Contemporary Art. He was the winner of the 2014 National Campus Art Prize for painting and was granted the Kaske Memorial Fellowship allowing him to travel and work in Berlin and Munich. More recently Dan has been confirmed for his PhD research at Southern Cross University in Lismore, NSW.
Dan McDonnell
1983 Born Adelaide, South Australia
Education
2022 - Awarded PhD, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW
2015 - BVA (Honours) Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW
Awards
2016 - Finalist - Albany Art Prize, WA
2016 - Granted - Kaske Memorial Fellowship (Visited Painting 2.0: Expression in the Information Age, Munich)
2015 - Finalist Clifton’s Art Prize, QLD
2015 - Winner - SCU Honours Exhibition, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, NSW
2015 - Finalist – Hatched – PICA (Perth Institute of Contemporary Art), WA
2014 - Winner - National Campus Art Prize, University of NSW
2014 - Granted - Uni Life Award for Excellence in the Arts
2014 - Finalist - Winsor and Newton, Liquitex and Conte a Paris Start Your Studio Scholarship
2014 - Finalist - Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Painting, QLD
2013 - Winner - Bentley Art Prize – Emerging Artist, Painting
2013 - Highly Commended - Bentley Art Prize – Painting
2012 - Highly Commended - Coraki Art Prize – Painting
Solo Exhibitions
2022 - Hyperpaintings - Held between Elevator ARI and Southern Cross University Gallery, Lismore
2019 - Data Streams - Lismore Regional Gallery
2015 - Touch Screen, Lone Goat Gallery, Byron Bay
Group Exhibitions
2021 - Radius: New Art from the Region, The Walls Art Space, Miami Gold Coast
2018 - Catalogue.jpeg ::New Works by Lars Borgdorff
2017 - Second Dimension Group Show, Temp ARI, Byron Bay
2015 - Hatched National Graduate Exhibition, (PICA) Curated by Nadia Johnson
2015 - Abstract Wonder, Grafton Regional Gallery, Curated by Wes Hill
2014 - National Campus Art Prize, UNSW
Reviews
2019 - Art Almanac - Data Streams - Lismore Regional Gallery
2015 - Hatched National Graduate Show - PICA