penguin is not a friend, only a sinner

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*).

Sweeping curved brushstrokes fill the left two thirds of the square, building a tall rounded mass of pale yellow, off-white, olive green and teal, with pale pink patches at the upper left and on the left side below centre. Near the top, short horizontal strokes form two dark elongated marks side by side above a fan of vertical white strokes. Below, yellow arcs curve down both sides around a teal, grey and white core. Three yellow strokes reach toward the bottom edge, one at the lower left and two crossing near the centre. Dark olive brown fills the upper left corner; the right third is thin pale green grey.

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

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