Karl Fred Dahmen counts among the most important artists of the German Informel.
His lyrical abstract works, which, following an early Tachist period, seem to explore space beyond the image carrier with their thickly applied colors and an emphasis on the material. Accentuated with cracks and indentations, they conjure associations to earthen structures. Dahmen's oeuvre is completed by his innovative comprehensive print art. Additionally, his "Objektkästen" [Object Boxes], material images that integrate found objects behind glass as well as his "Furchenbilder" [Furrow Pictures] must be mentioned as outstanding achievements in his later period of creation. Many of Karl Fred Dahmen's works are characterized by a clayey and nature-orientated coloring, which bestows a certain appeal upon them.
Works by Karl Fred Dahmen are part of both domestic as well as international collections, such as the Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Kunsthalle Hamburg, the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam or the Brooklyn Museum in New York.