works
A visceral engagement with the pervasiveness of nature is a concern in Taylor's work across different media, including photography, printmaking, sculpture, artists' books and video. A fascination with the natural world is also conveyed through the artist's use of animals as protagonists in the work. The initial pervasive response is often countered by scientific, environmental and political understandings that shift the works readings.
In his snail drawings, for example, Taylor exposed paper to the elements, allowing the molluscs to eat into the surface and create intricate abstract compositions though this process of nourishment and destruction, emphasising the inevitability of mutability and decay. In an inkjet work 'Special Effects' (2001), the artist controlled the snails in such a way as to make them spell out short texts, in this case the words of the title.
The overwhelming presence and otherness of nature are themes that recur in more recent work. A series of photographs depict butterflies on people's tongues, either feeding on saliva or resting. The images manage to fascinate and repulse the viewer with their startling depiction of an unusual proximity between the human and animal, holding our attention despite the initial shock.
