Michał Lenartowicz (XX) - Black&White Obsession

“Black&White Obsession” by Michał Lenartowicz is a powerful monochrome abstract painting that explores intensity, contrast, and the raw energy of gestural marks stripped of color.

Working exclusively in black, white, and shaded grays, Lenartowicz builds a composition guided by movement and confrontation. Thick, broad strokes clash with splatters, scratches, and drops, creating a dense visual field that seems both chaotic and deliberate. The absence of color sharpens every decision: every mark reads as a statement, every contrast as tension.

The surface of the painting reveals a highly physical process. Layers of paint overlap, smear, and fracture, suggesting repeated actions—application, erasure, and reaffirmation. Diagonal forces cut across the canvas, while darker masses anchor the composition, offering the eye moments of rest amid the turbulence. The white areas are not passive backgrounds; they react to the black, generating a constant visual struggle.

On a large scale, Black&White Obsession becomes immersive and confrontational. It draws the viewer into a space where emotion is not conveyed through symbolism, but through rhythm, pressure, and speed. Possible associations may emerge—conflict, movement, inner turmoil, or even calligraphic writing—but the work resists a single reading, remaining open and visceral.

Ultimately, the painting can be seen as a meditation on duality and focus: presence and absence, controlled impulse, silence and impact. By limiting its palette, Lenartowicz intensifies expression, showing how an obsession with reduction can lead to greater emotional force and clarity within abstraction.
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Dimensions overall: 160x110cm

Dimensions after stretching: 150x100cm

The work is signed on the back of the canvas

Photos of the work with the frame are for reference only

Due to the size of the work, the canvas will be shipped rolled.