b. 1993, Calgary
Lives and works in the Kootenays, B.C., Canada.
C.J. Robertson is an artist, producer and songwriter who creates work that explores the edges of perception. As a producer, he has spent years shaping records that sit just outside the familiar zeitgeist—using sonic intrigue as a kind of Trojan horse, drawing listeners in while quietly unsettling the structures beneath what they think they know.
In 2021, an unexpected impulse led Robertson into oil painting and drawing. His approach to the canvas begins with curiosity and “I don’t know”—setting aside expectation and allowing what lies beyond the intellect to emerge. Working directly, often with his hands, he allows the work to guide him rather than imposing his will upon it.
At the heart, C.J.s practice investigates the boundaries of collective perception. He is drawn toward the spaces where language, inherited ideas of beauty, and conventional systems of meaning begin to break down. Rather than explaining reality, his work asks: what might become perceptible if we could step outside the dimensions of thought we currently inhabit?