L’INCONNU Amsterdam

House Artist 16 · Marbled paper

L’INCONNU Elias Benali

The pattern floats for one minute. Then the paper takes it.

Nonpareil, night blue, 1990. Marbled paper.
LX-EB-001 · Nonpareil, night blue · 1990

Elias Benali drops colour onto a bath of thickened water, combs it with a rake of pins and lays a sheet on top. The pattern lives on the surface for less than a minute; the paper keeps it for good.

His sheets for the House were made in the old bookbinders’ manner, as endpapers for books that were never bound. Every comb is his own, every pattern made once.

Carrageen bath, ox-gall, a comb of brass pins.

Comb, gold and plum, 1990. Marbled paper.
LX-EB-002 Comb, gold and plum · 1990
Teal stone, 1991. Marbled paper.
LX-EB-003 Teal stone · 1991
Red and blue, 1991. Marbled paper.
LX-EB-004 Red and blue · 1991
Violet, combed twice, 1992. Marbled paper.
LX-EB-005 Violet, combed twice · 1992

House archive

  1. LX-EB-001Nonpareil, night blue1990Marbled paper
  2. LX-EB-002Comb, gold and plum1990Marbled paper
  3. LX-EB-003Teal stone1991Marbled paper
  4. LX-EB-004Red and blue1991Marbled paper
  5. LX-EB-005Violet, combed twice1992Marbled paper