About

Daniel Cardoso is a printmaking based artist with a BFA from OCAD University. Using inspiration from religious iconography, Daniel focuses on creating visual narratives using various print methods such as etching and reductive linocuts. He utilizes poetry and other creative writing techniques, along with visual anecdotes, as a means of disseminating the world through a queer lens. 

Daniel also explores pattern making, and uses the advantages of print multiples to create large scale installations from smaller blocks or plates. The use of patterning comes from a strong connection to Portuguese tile work (Azulejos). Having his childhood in Portugal has given him a repertoire of imagery that differs greatly from what he experiences in his life in Canada. A residency during his Bachelors in Florence, Italy has also influenced his work, adding the story telling ability and grandeur of Italian frescoes to his prints. 

In his art practice, Daniel’s goal is to combine the imagery of patterned tile work from the Iberian Peninsula, which is often filled religious themes, and insert more current accounts of queerness, mental health, and identity. His objective with contemporary print work is to expand the limits of what print can be in a digital world through experimentation, repetition, and the combination of digital media with analogue techniques.

Daniel is an advocate for community building and accessibility in the arts world, and through the art collective ‘CGAC’ (Community Garden Art Collective), plans and executes workshop series for underfunded and underrepresented communities in Toronto. For more on CGAC please visit cgac.ca