Index 2019 · Yiğit Özen

Index of paintings by Yiğit Özen, 2019

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.

sin over black matter, 2019

Acrylic on canvas, 65 × 90 cm (25 ⅝ × 35 ⅜ in). Painting by Yiğit Özen (decentralize*).

A single figure in yellow, ochre and brown occupies the left third, bent forward so the torso folds over the legs and the head is not visible; one arm hangs down with splayed fingers touching the lower left, and a foot with spread toes rests along the bottom. A flat red triangle sits between the folded limbs at the centre of the body. Pale yellow and white edging runs along the rounded back, widest at its right side. The remaining two thirds are near black, with faint brown and grey streaks and a slightly lighter rectangle in the upper left corner.

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*).

Two figures divide a horizontal composition. On the left one lies on a blue rectangular bed seen from the foot end, arms stretched out sideways, knees raised as two large pale rounded masses, lower legs and feet extending onto pink flooring, head dark at the far end. On the right a larger figure in purple and brown crouches forward, its head a broad hooked wedge, both arms reaching down to the floor where the hands lie flat. Behind them a red wall carries a framed picture at top centre, a blue panel with a gold leaf form, and a window at upper right.

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*).

Filling the lower centre, a symmetrical orange figure built from ropy striated lines raises both arms outward in a wide loop; its head carries a green oval face with two lighter eye shapes and a yellow rayed crown, and concentric rings mark the chest and abdomen. Behind it a deep blue rectangle holds a gold rosette with radiating gold rays and a green leafed stalk descending from it. At upper right a white tufted form with crossed eyes and a stitched mouth hangs on thin orange diagonals. Dark red spans the top, brown the floor, with a coiled brown spiral at lower left.

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*).

One frontal figure fills the surface, shown from the head down with no legs visible. Dark hair spikes outward above a pale yellow face with dark eye sockets, and a black green beard covers the lower head. Below, the body is a broad mass of pale yellow, white and blue in loose vertical strokes. The left arm ends in a pale brushy hand; the right arm lifts toward the right edge, ending in a dark grey hand with spread fingers. A deep blue arc surrounds the figure, going near black above and green at the sides. White scratched lines cross the bottom; a black mark sits top right.

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 tall pink and yellow body bends forward across the centre against a blue and violet ground, its torso marked by two concentric circles. One long arm extends upper left, ending in five thin black-tipped fingers. An olive green head with white eyes and a red striped mouth hangs at right beneath a ribbed orange cone. Two bird legs end in black clawed toes at the bottom. A red four-legged chair sits below the torso; a white outlined chair with a grid seat stands right. A pink line runs from the mouth to the chair. Pale ovoid clusters with X marks hang upper left.

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*).

Inside a room with red angled side walls, a blue ceiling, a purple back wall and a yellow floor, a red figure balances horizontally on a thin black pole with a splayed tripod base at left. Its head, with yellow spiked hair, faces right and its hand holds a small striped object. A blue segmented tube sits along the left arm. A pale pink chair floats upside down at top centre. At right a large pink mound covered in brown strokes carries a green bush; three blue figures with X eyes stand in a row before it, arms linked, flanked by two blue crescents.

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*).

A large white and pale blue mass of overlapping rounded units fills the upper two thirds over a black support, crossed by orange and ochre streaks and short yellow-green dashes. Two pale discs sit near its top; a separate white ovoid marked with two orange crosses floats at the upper right corner. Three small red and orange figures stand in a row along the bottom edge, arms extended so their hands meet, each with a round head bearing two white X marks and short white strokes below. Two white crosses appear at the lower right. Bare black shows at every edge.

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*).

Lavender and pale pink forms build a many-limbed body that fills most of the sheet, outlined throughout in loose black brushstrokes. Near the centre two large circles hold dark dots, with a third ringed circle beside them and two more ringed circles higher left. Six pale pink and white segmented limbs radiate outward, each ending in small splayed fingers along the bottom and right. A black hatched triangular patch hangs below the central circles. A dark blue oval sits behind the lower half, black fills the upper area, and vertical gold strokes run down both side edges.

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*).

Red covers nearly the whole surface. A large frontal face occupies the left half, its brow, eyes, nose and downturned mouth drawn in thin pale lines over red, grey and violet washes. A smaller face of the same construction sits at the upper right. Between them a pale hand with four fingers points upward, above thick vertical red bars. Rows of white and pink block capitals run across the lower right, partly overpainted and only partly legible, above a horizontal pink band. Dark navy and black fill the edges, with magenta and violet vertical strokes along the top right.

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*).

Green paint covers the whole background in sweeping strokes. Upper left holds a pink, yellow and dark purple head-like mass with one large sunken eye and a row of white teeth-shaped marks. Upper right, a second rounded head in yellow, white and purple carries two dark curved eyes and a mouth. Below, a broad torso is built from overlapping rounded lobes in mauve, yellow, ochre and white, a circular ochre patch on the left breast, a dark oval on the right. Brown and purple streaked fan shapes fill the lower third. A narrow yellow band with hanging strands runs down the left edge.

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*).

Vertical strokes of ultramarine blue, pink and violet fill the background, with lighter blue along the bottom edge and bare canvas showing at the left and top margins. At centre a large yellow-green form built from overlapping rounded lobes and thick black outlines crouches with legs folded to the lower left. A small head with a pink rounded snout and black spiky strokes sits at its top. Its right limb reaches to the upper right, ending near a bushy yellow-green mass on a dark vertical stalk. Three clusters of stiff yellow-green spikes occupy the lower left, lower centre and lower right. Orange patches show at mid-left.

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 necks rise from a single blue body at centre right, each ending in a head with a long pointed beak and a white feathered crest. The body carries five concentric circle and spiral motifs in blue, white and dark violet, and stands on thin pale legs with splayed claw-like feet along the bottom edge. Upper left, on a dark maroon field, a pink form made of stacked circles hangs inverted, with spread fingers at top and bottom and two crossed marks near its lower end. The lower third is salmon pink, crossed by thin drawn lines forming trestle shapes.

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*).

Two interlocking figures built from yellow, orange and cream limbs fill the left two thirds, outlined in blue and red over an ultramarine ground that shifts to lighter cyan below a black horizontal bar. A round pale head with a red band across the eyes sits near the top centre. Dark red discs are scattered at upper left and along the lower edge, and a black diagonal runs up from the lower left corner. The right third is off-white, covered with blue and orange rectangles, arcs and short strokes crossed by thin black diagonal lines. A red circle sits at its lower left.

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*).

Black paint covers a vertical sheet, leaving raw white paper along all four edges. Near the top, two white squares hold green patches crossed by red lines, and between them a red stick figure with raised arms stands beside a grey loop. At upper right a white outlined figure with crossed eyes and a circled chest is drawn at the end of a long red vertical line. A large red and white head with wide eyes and open mouth occupies the left middle above a green horizontal band. Small red stick figures cluster across the lower third beside a green ladder and a red fan of strokes.

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*).

A large frontal head fills the left half of a horizontal canvas, drawn in ochre, orange and pink, with wide almond eyes under black brows, a yellow nose, blue and red lips and pink streaks down both cheeks. The right half holds a blue upright form topped by a dark disc with a yellow curved mark, its centre a black and green panel crossed by red and white bars. A red rayed circle with a small green face sits at top centre. Yellow, green and purple scribbles fill the ground, and block capitals run along the top, down the centre and vertically at the right edge.

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*).

Overlapping rounded masses in pale green fill the centre and form a reclining body whose limb reaches down to a hand at the lower edge. An oval pink and blue face with two large eyes sits in the upper left. Pink and green feathered forms spread across the top. At right a dark green head with bared teeth rises above two large green spheres set on a black mass, with green legs below. A bright blue band runs along the bottom, white and pale grey cover the left, and lavender fills the upper right corner.

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*).

Charcoal drawing on off-white canvas, split into two panels by a vertical wooden stretcher bar, with further bars framing the outer edges and staples running down the left and right sides. In the left panel a nude figure sits on a straight-backed chair in three-quarter view, one arm raised to the head, one leg stretched out to the left, the other bent under the seat. In the right panel a second nude figure stands frontally, arms drawn behind the back, knees bent, feet flat and broad. Both are worked in dense hatching with heavy dark contour lines.

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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