Winston Hacking’s “tonermorphs” are kaleidoscopic clay creatures created to push images as far as they can

The artist Winston Hacking is racking up mammoth views with a new invention in moving image, something he calls “tonermorphs”: an experiment with printing, clay and animation. His work has been commissioned by the likes of Flying Lotus, Run The Jewels, Animal Collective, as well as bespoke visuals for Vice, Netflix, Warp Records and Adult Swim. Now, he’s ready to show it off as a fully developed concept that shows no signs of slowing down.

These one of a kind animations came from Winston’s interest in how far he could push the surface of an image before it broke down, a kernel of an idea from his childhood. “My dad worked in a printing and packaging factory, designing product labels. I remember the rhythm of the presses, the smell of ink, and an early mac computer next to his drafting table covered in coloured markers,” shares Winston. “That mix of industrial print culture and hands-on art-making has stuck with me ever since.” Further inspired by artists like Martha Colburn and Bruce Bickford, Winston channels their practical approaches to develop “strange, personal worlds”.

Winston really pays tribute to the word ‘morph’, as his process involves printing images onto clay which he then shapes and photographs frame by frame to create a “sense of shifting, tactile movement”, turning into bizarre animations that sometimes look like the evolution of brand new life forms. Focusing on memory, found imagery and the “tension between analog imperfection and digital control”, his subjects bloom and curdle into lumpy clay creatures, some resembling people, others resembling plants in tendril-like movements. The tactile contrasts between polaroid lifts and image transfers with psychedelic mounds of clay is supposed to elicit equal measures of ickiness and fascination – in a way, they’re like Winston’s childhood wonder come to life.

Winston’s presence in these ‘tonermorphs’ is undeniable, with finger smudges that drag complexions into each other, creating wonderful spectrums of colour. His human smears shape the narrative arcs of the clay’s endlessly repeating growth cycles, which also lend the subjects an analog frumpiness, as opposed to the symmetrical perfection of digitally defined work. “For me, touching every frame of clay is a way to stay connected to the work. It’s a slow, hands-on process that feels playful and alive,” says Winston. “Each small movement leaves a trace of human energy in something that would otherwise be static. It reminds the viewer that what they’re seeing is handmade, an illusion grounded in craft rather than automation.”