Daniel Brinsmead is an Australian contemporary visual artist based in the Northern Rivers region NSW, Australia.  Working primarily in painting and drawing—with expanding interests in video and sculpture—his practice is grounded in intuitive expressionism.  His works are raw, bold, and emotionally charged, exploring themes of conditioned belief systems, deeper realms of life, and the nature of existence.

 

Daniel’s art emerges from a deeply felt, instinctual process.  With minimal planning, he responds directly to the energy of his surroundings and inner landscape, allowing each work to unfold spontaneously.  Through this process, his artworks become portals of self-discovery—both for himself and his audience—inviting a deeper connection to emotion, perception, and presence.

 

Stripping away the unnecessary, Daniel focuses on simple, direct marks and gestures to express deeper truths of his experience.  His visual language is informed by explorative emotional intensity, spiritual inquiry, and a reverence for the untamed creative impulse.  Influences include mythological and metaphor-rich films, poetry, and literature, alongside his lived experiences of surfing, travel, and yoga.

 

Born in Murwillumbah and raised in the farming communities of the Tweed Coast, Daniel holds a Diploma of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Science.  His life and work are deeply informed by his cross-cultural experiences, particularly three extended artist residencies in Penang, Malaysia, where he lived and worked over a four-year period.  During this time, he also led community-based art initiatives supporting intellectually disabled adults through collaborative creative projects and exhibitions.

 

He has been invited to participate in touring group exhibition projects, public artist talks and open forums at the Tweed Regional Gallery, Lismore Regional Gallery, and Grafton Regional Gallery.  His work has also been showcased in solo exhibitions at the Tweed Regional Gallery and various commercial galleries nationally in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, and internationally in Penang, Malaysia.

 

His evolving practice positions art as a vital tool for personal and collective transformation—a visual exploration of being that speaks to something beyond words.  Whether on canvas, paper, or in new media, his works pulse with a sense of movement, immediacy, and presence, asking viewers to pause, feel, and reflect.

 

 

 

2004 Diploma of Fine Arts, North Coast Institute of TAFE, NSW

1994 Bachelor of Science, Griffith University, QLD

 

2018 Travel, research and development: 3 months to explore my arts practises in relation to SE Asian culture, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia.

2017 Artist Residency and Collaboration:  Denmark and Bunbury, Western Australia, 9 months.

2014 Artist Residency: Alila Studios, Penang, Malaysia, 5 months.  Returning to Penang to complete new work for Project 9, a collaborative exhibition of visual art and poetry for the George Town Festival.  Also exhibiting at the Singapore Affordable Art Fair 2014.

2013 Artist Residency: China House, Penang, Malaysia, 5 months.  This residency was an invitation by China House to come to Georgetown, studio, exhibition China House Gallery for the George Town Festival.

2011 Artist Residency: RBS-Malihom ‘Artist in Residency’ Program of the Wawasan Open University, Penang, Malaysia, 6 months.  Residency Exhibition at Royal Bank of Scotland House, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia.  Community project as part of the residency where I participated in a centre at the local village for intellectually disabled adults, where with my guidance we completed two major artworks to be included in the residency exhibition and auctioned with all proceeds going to the centre.

2007 Panel Member, Art and Text Forum:  Grafton Regional Gallery.

2007 Artist Talk: Public floor talk, Grafton Regional Gallery.

2006 Artist in Residency: One day residency and open talk, Tweed Regional Gallery.

 

2014 Project9, a2 Gallery, Penang, Malaysia

2013 Romancing Melaka, China House, Penang, Malaysia

2011 Melaka Dreams, Straits Collection-Bon Ton Gallery, Penang, Malaysia

2011 RBS-Malihom ‘AiR’ Program of the Wawasan Open University Exhibition,

Royal Bank Scotland House, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

2009 Journey of the Boy and the Eagle, Anthea Polson Art, Gold Coast, QLD

2006 Paradox, Tweed Regional Gallery, NSW

 

2022 Finalist, The 67th Blake Prize Exhibition, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney, NSW

2019 Melbourne Affordable Art Fair, Retrospect Galleries

2014 Singapore Affordable Art Fair, Manyung Gallery Group

2012 Precious Little Pieces, Wei-Ling Contemporary, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2009 Byron Bay Art Diary Exhibition, Byron Bay, NSW

2009 Finalist Exhibition, The Churchie Emerging Art Prize, QLD

2008 Group Exhibition, Harrison Galleries, Sydney, NSW

2008 Schubert Contemporary at Art Brisbane 2008,

Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, QLD

2008 Finalist ABC Artsnest Award Touring Exhibition, Tweed Regional Gallery,

Lismore Regional Gallery, Grafton Regional Gallery

2007 Sweet Transformations, Grafton Regional Gallery, NSW

2006 Chrysalis: The Emergence of Northern Rivers Artists,

Lismore Regional Gallery, NSW

2006 5 Young Artists, Harrison Galleries, Sydney, NSW

2006 Harrison Galleries at Art Sydney 2006, RHI & Horden Pavilion, Sydney, NSW

2005 Pointers – Mental Oyster, Tweed Regional Gallery, NSW

2004 Hybrid Vision, City of the Arts Space, Murwillumbah, NSW

2002 Exit Ramp, Tweed Regional Gallery, NSW