Index of paintings by Yiğit Özen
Yiğit Özen was born in 1994 in Istanbul and trained as an architect. The paintings date from 2018 onward and were made across Istanbul, Milan and Luxembourg. Alongside the paintings, Özen works as an XR and spatial web designer, and is the founder of decentralize design in Milan and Virtually Ever After in Luxembourg. That practice has been shown at Kunsthalle Zürich, the Royal Institution in London, Holy Art Gallery London and Art Basel Miami.
Virgil on Virtual Cage (final_final-finalV9), 2026
Acrylic on canvas, 80 × 100 cm (31 ½ × 39 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

A transparent box, drawn from above in thin white lines, sits on top of everything beneath it. The lines are hard and continuous; the inside of the box, by contrast, is soft, scattered, organic. At the centre a large body is sunk into a yellow between saffron and scorched melon, and the most saturated zone of the canvas is here.
Virgil on Virtual Cage (final_final-finalV9) · Reading, in seven lenses
gary grills cooper, 2026
Acrylic on canvas, 55 × 75 cm (21 ⅝ × 29 ½ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

The cigar is the one line segment that does not curve on a surface where every form curves; it descends forty five degrees to the left from the level of the mouth, cuts the left wing of the light-value collar and remains the only unit that overturns the frontally established order, because it has no counterpart in the right half.
gary grills cooper · Reading, in seven lenses
walls of perception, 2026
Acrylic on canvas, 50 × 70 cm (19 ⅝ × 27 ½ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

A butter-yellow column spilling from a mouth forms the spine of the painting; it begins beneath the chin, widens as it descends and reaches its broadest point in the bowl on the table.
walls of perception · Reading, in seven lenses
articulo attack on mandarin, 2026
Acrylic on canvas, 80 × 80 cm (31 ½ × 31 ½ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

Winged blue forms are swept from upper left to lower right in a flock; this is the painting's main diagonal, and every unit within it faces the same way, toward the boat below.
articulo attack on mandarin · Reading, in seven lenses
s(t)lop, 2026
Acrylic on canvas, 55 × 75 cm (21 ⅝ × 29 ½ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

Coral-red notches ranged inside an open mouth are the only hard place on the surface; everything around them is opened out with milk, and on a palette the black never visits, lilac, mint, mustard and baby blue rub against one another at the same pitch.
s(t)lop · Reading, in seven lenses
penguin is not a friend, only a sinner, 2023
Acrylic on canvas, 120 × 120 cm (47 ¼ × 47 ¼ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

Up at the narrowest part of the body two dark slits have gathered; the face is there, like a small knot fastened to the top of a mass far greater than itself. The great arcs descending below read as an embrace, and also as two taut wings guarding the chest; this double reading sets up the painting's central tension.
penguin is not a friend, only a sinner · Reading, in seven lenses
ciao capo, sono squalo, 2020
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

The pointed teeth ranged in the open mouth of the figure on the left stand as the one sharp edge within the softness of the rest of the painting. The title gives this mouth a sentence: hello boss, I am the shark. An Italian and overly cheerful greeting, the opening line of someone introducing himself as a predator.
ciao capo, sono squalo · Reading, in seven lenses
cellular spleens, 2020
Acrylic on canvas, 100 × 120 cm (39 ⅜ × 47 ¼ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

Below lies a long, flat car, a thick black wheel at each end; it fills the whole breadth of the painting and a large body stands upon it. One foot sunk into the middle of the bodywork, the other braced on its edge, no balance, the stance liable to break at any moment.
cellular spleens · Reading, in seven lenses
cute but unemployed cartoon figure, 2020
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

The red ground is a single flat layer from end to end, leaving nothing to fill the space around the figure. In the middle a single-coloured field and a creature standing upon it. The unemployment of the title matches precisely this emptiness, a figure with no role in a scene with no set.
cute but unemployed cartoon figure · Reading, in seven lenses
the family dinner after a night in jaïl, 2020
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

Green has wrapped everything, three heads float within this colour; all three issue from the same mass and mix back into it. The one on the left is the lightest and most luminous, almost phosphorescent, its eye sockets hollowed.
the family dinner after a night in jaïl · Reading, in seven lenses
caprocorn sister: war, plague, earthquake, 2020
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

In the middle of the lower half stands a dark green chest, its edges combed in lines, its lid closed; while everything around it is crooked, it is the one geometric unit. Three bodies are ranged around it and the title lists three catastrophes side by side: war, plague, earthquake.
caprocorn sister: war, plague, earthquake · Reading, in seven lenses
baby rights 101, 2020
Acrylic on canvas, 80 × 100 cm (31 ½ × 39 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

Right in the middle, between two dark bodies, a small infant is drawn with a thin red line: a body of rings come side by side, a pair of eyes, a single horizontal notch of a mouth. It stands like a diagram laid onto the flesh afterward, staying upon the paint without mixing into it.
baby rights 101 · Reading, in seven lenses
When the Darkness surrounds, be among those who burn the Great Fire, 2020
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

The hand at the end of the arm reaching to the right is left unable to become a fist, the fingers not quite closed; it could be about to strike, it could be reached out to hold something. The title says be one of those who light the great fire, but the palm is empty, nothing burning is visible in the painting.
When the Darkness surrounds, be among those who burn the Great Fire · Reading, in seven lenses
viperella, 2020
Acrylic on canvas, 50 × 70 cm (19 ⅝ × 27 ½ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

A dark band closes in from all four sides and leaves within it a light green rectangle between lemon and pistachio, setting up a second frame inside the painting. The figure is placed right in the middle of that bright field, standing in profile.
viperella · Reading, in seven lenses
bacchus 2, 2020
Acrylic on paper, 42 × 59.4 cm (16 ½ × 23 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

The inside of the stemmed goblet on the right opens not onto a drink but onto a dark pit spiralling down; the distance between drinking and being swallowed closes. The goblet is almost as large as the head, its thin long stem not looking able to carry a bowl of this breadth, ready to topple and no one holding it.
bacchus 2 · Reading, in seven lenses
The On-Top Ruler, 2020
Acrylic on thick paper, 29.7 × 42 cm (11 ¾ × 16 ½ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

A tower is built of heads heaped one on another and the topmost is the largest of all; between them there is no shoulder or neck, the heads seated directly one upon another.
The On-Top Ruler · Reading, in seven lenses
sin over black matter, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

The right two-thirds has turned into nothing, not even a ground, a halted darkness; the figure is at least twice as small as this void, the single light mass squeezed against the left edge. The body is folded in two, the back making an arch above and ending where the head should be in a lumpy tip, no face set upon it.
sin over black matter · Reading, in seven lenses
the assassination of the crow, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

We look at the body on the blue divan from the feet; the knees push forward and swell into two large lumps, the body foreshortened backward, the head a dark patch so far off it nearly vanishes.
the assassination of the crow · Reading, in seven lenses
despite transgression, 2019
Acrylic on grey carton, 100 × 160 cm (39 ⅜ × 63 in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

An orange body drawn fibre by fibre, vein by vein, sits cross-legged in the middle of the board; the muscles are outside, no layer covering them over, no surface left to hide anything. Against this the face is closed, a green mask in place of the head and a rayed crown about it.
despite transgression · Reading, in seven lenses
duality of the angelic summarization, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

Two arms are flung to either side and the two hands are not the same. The right one is darkened, almost burnt, its fingers turned to a claw and sharpened and hanging down; the left one is pale, furred, a soft heap close to a wing.
duality of the angelic summarization · Reading, in seven lenses
victim psycho-logique II : the peachy pharaoh connects with the chair, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

A peach-coloured body stands doubled over on a diagonal running from lower left to upper right, its heaviest mass gathered right at the level of the belly, the legs that bear it thin and long; the borne is heavy, the bearer weak.
victim psycho-logique II : the peachy pharaoh connects with the chair · Reading, in seven lenses
guarding holy mountains from malice, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

On the right three blue figures are ranged side by side, the same height, the same stance, arms interlocked; all three have a cross in their eye. Sightless guards have formed a chain.
guarding holy mountains from malice · Reading, in seven lenses
good people helping bad ones (that’s why they’re bad too), 2019
Acrylic on black paper, 70 × 100 cm (27 ½ × 39 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

How many bodies there are within a white heap cannot be counted; an arm rises up, a leg hangs from beneath it, in the middle two rounds resembling a chest overlap and it is unclear whose limb ends where. The one who helps and the one helped, the one embraced and the one crushed, melt into the same mass.
good people helping bad ones (that’s why they’re bad too) · Reading, in seven lenses
amor cathedra, 2019
Acrylic on black paper, 70 × 100 cm (27 ½ × 39 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

Two large round eyes are ringed with black rings, the pupils each a dot in the middle, turned directly toward us. For the first time in this series a figure does not shy from looking; the one looked at is now us.
amor cathedra · Reading, in seven lenses
burningman fast, 2019
Acrylic on black paper, 70 × 100 cm (27 ½ × 39 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

The left half is taken up by a single face; horizontal scratches on its brow, its eyes half closed, its mouth drawn down. At upper right a second, half-scale, paler face.
burningman fast · Reading, in seven lenses
il sbagliato di rompipalle, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

A single neck carries two heads at once; the left one draws near a skull with its teeth ranged in rows while the right one is round, its eyes closed, absent. One dead, one asleep; the shared body binds the two to the same punishment. In the Janus tradition the two faces divide time, one looking to the past, one to the future.
il sbagliato di rompipalle · Reading, in seven lenses
morbid forebodings triggered by childish landscape, 2019
Acrylic on grey carton, 73 × 80 cm (28 ¾ × 31 ½ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

In the upper right corner stands a tree straight out of a child's notebook: a thin stick of a trunk, a round and puffy greenery at its top. That tree we were all made to draw at school, the most innocent sign saying the world is safe.
morbid forebodings triggered by childish landscape · Reading, in seven lenses
wings of abyss, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

Three long beaks rise from the same blue body on separate necks, each looking a different way, their crests flung back at the top.
wings of abyss · Reading, in seven lenses
see u in the other side, 2019
Acrylic on paper, 59.4 × 42 cm (23 ⅜ × 16 ½ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

A vertical border divides the paper in a three-to-two ratio, and the amount of paint carried to each side is the exact opposite of the other.
see u in the other side · Reading, in seven lenses
society screwing balance, 2019
Acrylic on paper, 42 × 59.4 cm (16 ½ × 23 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

Red stick figures multiply below, more than fifteen, all from a single mould: a round, a vertical line, four sticks. A form repeated this much ceases to be a person and becomes a sign; among them none sees another, some hold hands, some are alone.
society screwing balance · Reading, in seven lenses
How to materialize your loneliness by using an animal in somewhere concrete or technologic, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

On the brow of the enormous head at the left a third eye is opened, and from the two eyes below thick marks descend toward the cheeks. It resembles weeping, but whether what runs is liquid or a scratched-in scratch is unclear.
How to materialize your loneliness by using an animal in somewhere concrete or technologic · Reading, in seven lenses
Century of 0 & 1 / Transhumanism, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

Hands are raised into the air, palms turned to the front; the oldest sign of surrender and of execution scenes waits on the pink body at the left edge, while opposite, a yellow body in profile, mid-step, extends its arms forward and binds itself to the weapon in its hand.
Century of 0 & 1 / Transhumanism · Reading, in seven lenses
remixed execution of lucid drowning, 2019
Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

A greenish body is spread horizontally and no border is drawn between it and the blue beneath; where the body ends and where the water begins is unclear. The arms are open, the legs hang, no trace of resistance. Whether it is sinking or swimming, the painting does not say.
remixed execution of lucid drowning · Reading, in seven lenses
two woman figures sitting at the back of the canvas, 2019
Charcoal on the reverse of canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

The stretcher bars and the central rail are visible just as they are; two female figures are drawn in charcoal on the unpainted back face of the canvas, that is the side normally left turned to the wall.
two woman figures sitting at the back of the canvas · Reading, in seven lenses
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