Glue, Paper, Scissors
David Wildman
From: Boston Magazine

As a leading light of the low-rent Fort Point artist's community of the late 1990?s, Danny O was well known for his dumpster-diving found artwork. Priced out of his loft by developers in September of 2001, he relocated to the Berkshires and found something that had long eluded him: commercial success.

Since heading west, Danny O has chalked up an impressive list of accomplishments. He is the official artist of the Bay State Games, an amateur Olympics held at colleges and sports clubs throughout the Boston area from July 10th through the 20th. Tanglewood commissioned some his Berkshires lithographs for display all summer long. His big print depictions of Fenway Park, Symphony Hall and other local landmarks can be seen along the Skywalk at the Prudential Center. The prestigious Atlanta firm Deljou Art Group is licensing his nostalgic images of household items such as musical instruments, typewriters and travel
for an exclusive line of posters.

Also, The Museum of Cartoon Art in New York City is planning a tribute to his innovative use of scotch tape and old Archies comics.

"I knew from the time I was really young that I would be an artist," says the forty-year-old Lexington native whose real name is Daniel O'Conner.
"In second grade I brought home a collage of a hot dog, and the attention that I got from it sealed my fate."

Another hot dog collage provided the link to his current success. Ozzie Alvarez of Boxcar Media happened on Danny O's whimsical vibrant blue and brown depiction of North Adams landmark Jack's Hot Dog Stand displayed as part of a downtown beautification project in 1998. At the time Danny O was keeping a work studio in North Adams where Mass M.O.C.A. was showing his Guinness Book Of World Records-recognized collection of 17,000 found balls. Alvarez still had the Danny O collage on his mind when the two finally met in the summer of 2001.

"I was attracted to the vibrant colors, it made me stop and look," says Alvarez, an Internet entrepreneur that has now turned his energies to promoting Danny O's art. "I liked the concept of how he created the art and felt it had mass appeal."

Although his work is being featured in lofty surroundings such as The Chesterwood Museum, Danny O is still proudly a bottom feeder. His latest series, "American Classics" is rendered on the back of used vinyl LP jackets. He continues to work strictly with discarded magazines, newspapers and comic books, and his tools of choice remain scissors, glue and tape.