A Word With CJ Taylor

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CJ Taylor's electric photography makes you feel one part nature-lover and one part mad-scientist. The dismembered and luminous wings of native Australian birds are the focal point of CJ's next solo exhibition at Gallery 139 on Magill Road and the opening night is this Thursday the 11th... so get thee there prompt at 6pm!
 
We wanted to have a chat with CJ to understand a bit of the mind behind these photographs. Intrigued by his statement about the works, about these photographs being an "investigation of the nature of beauty and the inherent and indeed necessary sense of the grotesque found within it," we just had to get into the mind of this man.  
 
Where did you come from? (What’s your background CJ? A second year Arts student with photos this good is a little suspect if you ask me… ;)
I'll take that as a compliment. Actually fuck no, I won't, mind your own business!!
 
What’s the most important meal of the day?
Lulu's dinner. She's half Australian Cattle Dog x long-haired German Shepherd which is very Adels when you think about it. 
 
Who told you that?
Lulu's mother, we're on a first name basis.
 
Your art is exquisitely macabre. Do you like the show Dexter?
I find television excruciatingly macabre, making pictures is normal. What's a Dexter?
 
 
What is the number one killer of native Australian birds?
Artists. Or perhaps feral cats, I'll have to look up the stats.
 
What’s your own rule for photography?
About 30cm.
 
What’s a rule you follow from someone else?
To never not follow other people's rules.
 
Who was that someone else and why do you respect them?
A guy on a bus in downtown Berlin because he was wearing very tight leopard-skin pants and kept clicking his false teeth in and out relentlessly until finally taking them out with a messy slurp and putting them in his top pocket. I will be that man one day. Respect.
 
What do you love about Adelaide?
It presents opportunities to answer compelling questions such as these.
 
What do you… less-than-love about Adelaide?
See above. Oh, and Adelaidians who keep apologising for being Adelaidians. Have some pride people!
 
Tell us about the upcoming show at 139, Flight, light.
It's about the nature of beauty through the beauty of nature. It's about the imperfection of beauty. It's also about trying to make enough money to do the next body of work which of course is the most romantic point, no? It opens on December 11 at 6pm and even if you don't like the pictures the wine will be very very good.
 
 
Being an editor I notice things (good for me), one time we interviewed an American animator by the name of Don Hertzfeldt (look him up, he’s great). But old Don never, ever used capital letters, not for names, not after full stops – never. Why capital ‘F’ little ‘t’ in your show’s title?
I'm guessing because Bill Gates' little software program changed it from the all lower case title flight,light that it actually should be. Kudos to Don, raspberries to Bill.
 
What’s your camera (make and model, film or digital)
A borrowed Horseman 4x5 monorail with whacking great big darkslides that slam in the back. The only camera I actually own is a 1960s East German Werramatic in olive green. Very chic, very Adelaide.
 
Do people often ask how you source your photo subjects?
Yes but prising open the top of my skull becomes tiresome after several minutes so they usually give up and go watch Dexter on TV. Also, I wear a hat.
 
Making pictures is normal, when did you start? What did you start shooting?
I can't remember when I started shooting but I started clunking when I was 10 or 11 when my parents bought me a plastic Kodak 55x Instamatic 126-cartridge camera that never took a picture in focus, always overexposed the subject and was developed on paper with rounded corners. You know, just like art.
 
Please tell me about Berlin…
It is a large city full of West Germans. The East Germans left in the late nineties bound for Italy. After reunification I lived in what was an East German apartment before it was all bought up by the profiteers. There was dodgy central heating and a communal toilet on the landing (however fashion dictated only only person used it at a time, mostly). For once the profiteers were right, this was no way to live. I filled journals with pictures drawn with a blue felt-tip pen. I poured coffee directly into cups of boiled water and drank it straight. I took pictures with a brass-bodied camera so heavy it made me think twice before pressing the magic button. And I still take pictures.