Dick Berckenkamp

Dick Berckenkamp’s Composition II (I hear something different) from the Composition series opens a synesthetic dialogue between visual abstraction and acoustic perception. The work seems to capture the moment in which an external or internal sound triggers a psychological resonance. Through the fine, searching contour lines, the silhouette of a woman’s head can be sensed in the upper area, remaining in a gesture of listening or deep absorption.

The composition is dominated by a vibrant palette of luminous green, lemon yellow, and turquoise accents that permeate the pictorial space like visual frequencies. These different colors can be interpreted as representations of various audio sounds: while the gentle green and yellow tones create a harmonious basic mood, the bold, almost pulsating orange and blue fields set rhythmic counterpoints. In this paradox, Berckenkamp combines the silence of the canvas with the invisible dynamics of sound waves, making the inaudible experienceable through color and form.

Stylistically, a bridge can be built to Wassily Kandinsky, who understood painting as a form of composition and specifically assigned instrumental qualities to colors. Similar to Kandinsky, Berckenkamp uses color not for mere decoration, but as a vibration that achieves a direct spiritual effect. The woman, figuratively recognizable in the contour lines, seems to absorb and bundle the frequencies of the space. The impression arises that she merges in a profound resonance with the tonal texture of her surroundings.

The bright, light-filled background offers an open stage for this “acoustic landscape.” The result is a work that abolishes the classical separation of the senses: simultaneously figurative and atmospheric, quietly observing and loud in its coloration. Composition II (I hear something different) thus becomes an invitation to explore the world behind the visible and to discover the vitality that arises when colors become sounds and contours become feelings.