These are cyanotype photographs that are created using AI-generated images via Stable Diffusion. With their unexpected and unusual nature, the resulting images attain a family resemblance within each of the three different series. These technological beings are strange, convoluted, and uncanny in many ways based on familiar images that have been reworked via obscure algorithms. Yet, they also possess a unique beauty, sometimes eerily unsettling but always captivating.
AI-generation procedure
The image generation involves using unusual prompts or descriptions, such as excerpts from theoretical texts like The Originality of the Avant-garde by Rosalynd E. Krauss. Each quote addresses a specific issue in contemporary art; the resulting images capture these issues. The images are generated programmatically using the first 150 digits of the number pi as seeds. They are then resized using ON1 Resize AI and adjusted in Capture One Pro, with the prompt added to the resulting image in Affinity design. The final digital negative is output using the PiezoDN technique. Finally, each image is printed on watercolour paper and sometimes toned to achieve the intended tonal scale.
Cyanotype photographs: the process
These images are not mere photographs but a testament to the meticulous artistry of the cyanotype process, which traces its origins back to 1842. A solution of photosensitive iron salts is delicately painted upon watercolour paper. Once dry, a digital negative is carefully sandwiched with the paper and illuminated with ultraviolet light. The resulting blue image is a cyanotype photograph, a unique and captivating art form. For this series the final process is. not. the same for all images. Some are left untoned and, therefore, keep their characteristic blue colour. Others are lightly bleached, either in a solution made from white Aleppo oak gall apples, producing iron grey blacks and reddish grey hues, or a solution from red pine bark, which tints the paper and gives the image a characteristic reddish-brown hue.
Editions & folios for sale
The artwork is offered for sale in the following formats:
- 28 x 28 cm single image edition, limited to 16 copies: Priced at kr. 30,000 (roughly $215) each.
- 56 x 56 cm single-image edition, limited to 12 copies: Priced at kr. 90,000 (roughly $645) each.
- A 28 x 28 cm box set folio edition of all 72 images, limited to 8 copies: Priced at kr. 1,500,000 (roughly $10,700) each.
- A 56 x 56 cm box set folio edition of all 72 images, limited to 4 copies, is Priced at kr. 4,500,000 (roughly $32,000) each.
Each copy and edition is signed and has a certificate of authenticity.
Individual images sized 28 x 28 cm can be ordered directly by selecting “Purchase” on the relevant page.
For other sizes and inquiries, please select “Inquire” or email at hlynur@hlynur.art.
