Incis

Here I present a series of AI-generated synthographs that take their inspiration from the physical processes of linocut and woodcut printmaking. Created entirely within Flux 1.1 Pro Ultra, each image was “printed with words”—painstakingly constructed through complex, highly specific prompt writing. Even the simplest compositions required detailed language to achieve balance, materiality, and surface truth. There is no ink here, no carved block or paper—only the illusion of such things.

The work charts a visual progression: from the clean, simplified forms of linocut to the rougher, more intricate marks of woodcut. Linoleum, first used as a flooring material in the 1860s, became popular among artists for its softness and ease of cutting—ideal for graphic forms and bold silhouettes. Woodcut, by contrast, has a longer and rougher lineage: first used in China during the Tang dynasty, and later in Europe to print devotional images, books, and fine art. Artists such as Albrecht Dürer and Hokusai brought extraordinary complexity to the medium, balancing force with detail. This project honours both traditions while working entirely outside them.

Alongside this material evolution runs a symbolic pairing of subject matter—the floral motif and the male body. These elements recur in varying configurations, sometimes separate, sometimes entwined. Flowers stand in for repetition, variation, and ornament. The male figure—carved into angular planes with a strong physical presence—offers a sense of quiet solidity. The colour palette was intentionally constrained: black, red, grey, and white. These colours carry printmaking associations, but also serve to focus the images—eliminating decorative excess in favour of clarity and structure. Some images bear artificial signatures or edition numbers—hallucinated by Flux itself. Rather than erase these marks, they have been embraced as artefacts of the process, accepted as part of the medium’s distortion. What you see is exactly what Flux produced. Incis does not attempt to reproduce traditional printmaking. Instead, it explores how digital tools can echo manual techniques—not by replicating them, but by remembering what they felt like.