Top
London

EKO33

Latent Ink

Dec 9, 2024 - Jan 10, 2025

Featured Exhibition Image

Overview

“I believe that art is a form of knowledge, deeply rooted in our cognitive structures. By engaging with machines, I'm exploring how our understanding shapes visual representation.“

- EKO33

Latent Ink is a new body of work by artist Eko33 exploring the evolving dialogue between human creativity and machine collaboration. Spanning 500 unique artworks, the project integrates AI-trained datasets, p5.js generative systems, machine vision, and GLSL shaders to produce intricate pieces that challenge the boundaries of creativity. Seamlessly merging digital and physical mediums, Latent Ink highlights Eko33’s most advanced exploration yet into the intersection of human expression and artificial intelligence.
At its core, Latent Ink uses custom AI trained extensively on Eko33’s hand-drawn sketches and previous generative art series, ensuring each output reflects his distinctive visual language. These AI-generated canvases serve as foundations, which are then further developed through sophisticated generative algorithms and shaders. The process is iterative and dynamic; parameters evolve continuously as compositions achieve a finely tuned balance of complexity, precision, and spontaneity.
Central to Latent Ink's physical expression are 100 plotter-based artworks, transforming digital renderings into tangible, meticulously crafted pieces. Each work undergoes a rigorous process of colour selection, plotting sequence, speed variation, and algorithmic adjustments, embracing deliberate imperfections that amplify their uniqueness. The completed plots are then digitized in high resolution, creating a permanent digital archive of their physical presence.
Through this nuanced integration of machine and human intervention, Latent Ink challenges traditional perceptions of authorship, authenticity, and artistic control. Rather than simplifying or speeding up creation, Eko33 deliberately pushes technological tools to their limits, revealing unexpected beauty at the frontier of collaboration between human intent and machine capability.
As Eko33 explains, “With Latent Ink, I’m not interested in using technology to make things easier or faster; instead, I embrace technology to redefine what art can be. It’s through pushing both myself and the machines to their limits that unexpected beauty emerges.”
Read More

Artworks:

Featured

All

Artwork Image

Inquire about #057 by EKO33

Back

EKO33

#057

2024

Provenance

Contract Address
0xF770...aE0D
Blockchain
Ethereum
Token Standard
ERC-721

Details

Artwork ID
57
Format
XL
Trait
Magna Memory
Medium
Inkjet on Hahnemühle Baryta
NFT Edition
Unique
Physical Edition
3 + 1AP, 120 x 160 cm
Print Status
Available
Overview
Latent Ink is a novel exploration of Eko33’s evolving collaboration with machines to create art. Spanning 500 unique artworks, this project merges AI-trained datasets, p5.js generative systems, machine vision, and GLSL shaders to produce intricate works that challenge the boundaries of human and machine creativity. By integrating digital and physical mediums, Latent Ink showcases Eko33’s most technically advanced and conceptually innovative project to date.
This collection reflects a layered evolution, combining Eko33’s past and present artistic gestures through algorithmic processes, resulting in visually complex images that converge, compete, and evolve in their form.
Overall Process
AI Generation
The journey begins with custom AI models trained on Eko33’s portfolio of hand-drawn sketches and previous generative art series. These datasets are carefully curated to ensure the AI’s outputs remain deeply rooted in his unique artistic language. The result is a digital canvas imbued with the nuances of Eko33’s style, ready for further exploration.
Algorithmic Refinement
Eko33 employs a custom p5.js environment and GLSL shaders to simulate the subtleties of hand-drawn marks. His algorithms allow control over line characteristics such as thickness and pressure variations, curvature and angle imperfections, layering of textures and colors.
This phase is not simply computational but deeply iterative. Parameters are adjusted, elements are redrawn, and compositions evolve dynamically until they achieve the desired complexity and balance. The final artworks push the boundaries of both machine precision and human expressiveness.

Plotter-Specific Process
The 100 plotter artworks form the core of Latent Ink’s physical exploration, transitioning digital outputs into unique, tangible artifacts. This process demands an intense level of technical precision and artistic decision-making:
1. Ink and Tool Selection
Eko33 meticulously chooses ink types, ranging from quick-drying to slow-flowing inks, each creating distinct textures. A variety of nib sizes—fine, medium, and bold—are employed to create depth and hierarchy in the plotted lines.
2. Color Palette Expansion
The physical plotter works often go beyond their digital counterparts, incorporating extended color palettes that highlight the physical medium’s richness.
3. Plotting Sequence and Speed
Eko33 programs a precise sequence for plotting, dictating the order of line and color application. Adjustments to plotting speed add further character, with slower strokes yielding bolder lines and faster strokes creating delicate, nuanced impressions.
4. Algorithmic Adaptation
Each plotted work involves adjustments to the original algorithm, tailored for physical execution. These adaptations allow the machine to capture the artist's intent while introducing physical imperfections that enhance the work’s uniqueness.
5. Final Digitization
Once completed, each plotter piece is scanned in high resolution to preserve its intricate details, creating a lasting digital archive of the physical artwork.
Through these steps, Eko33’s plotter works transcend mere replication of digital art, becoming standalone expressions that merge the precision of machine plotting with the human intuition of traditional craftsmanship.

Concluding Remarks
Latent Ink asks us to reconsider the relationships between time, space, and representation in art. By embracing AI, generative algorithms, and extreme compute conditions, Eko33 has created a groundbreaking series of works that redefine collaboration between human and machine.
“With Latent Ink, I’m not interested in using technology to make things easier or faster; instead, I embrace technology to redefine what art can be. It’s through pushing both myself and the machines to their limits that unexpected beauty emerges.”
- Eko33
Read More

Artists