Page 18 - Studio International - August 1965
P. 18
though they remain pregnant with a controlled
urgency. A multiplicity of gradations in sepia. ochre and
rust-brown gives a rhythm to the parchment-like sur
faces. Painting and collage are inextricably blended.
In his present creations Dahmen gives the paint direct
expression. Now. in place of the rocky, decayed.
charred or bark-like tones. we get a gleaming red or,
more recently, an occasional opaque green which
dominates most of the canvas. Hitherto green has been
Resin on canvas 1963 115 x 100 cm. Collage and paint 1963 60 x 47 cm.
Montage-Objects on canvas. 1964 Paint and sheet iron 80 x 100 cm.
absent from Dahmen·s palette. and where he uses it
now. it has less a vegetable than a mineral quality. His
composition has altered too. The 'earth crust' no longer
continuously spreads over the surface of his pictures.
Centres of conglobation or empty spaces make their
appearance. which make one think of closed windows.
hidden panels. tree trunks or human forms. And yet
nothing objective. let alone figurative. is ever intended
or expressed. The content results solely from the form.
from the structures of the surface. of the multi-layered
bakelite colours. not least from the unrelated working
materials that have been incorporated.
Dahmen is always on the threshold of collage, of
concrete materials. A considerable part of his work
comprises actual montages and pasted pictures from
every conceivable alien material. The alienation is the
decisive factor. From crumpled rags, slashed paste
board. charred wood. torn emery paper. corrugated
paper or newspaper, compositions rich in nuance are
produced. which do not derive their effect from the
material. but from purely pictorial values. Dahmen,
though he hardly works with the brush, is a born
painter. The means he employs enable him to realise a
basically painterly conception. in which nothing is
intellectually contrived and everything is instinct with
aesthetic sense. The artist subscribes wholeheartedly
to the Tyche. the Western goddess of experiment, of
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