Yiğit Özen · Paintings

Selected 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 seated figure fills the centre in orange and yellow drapery, one hand raised to the cheek, beneath a long white wig falling past the shoulders. Thin white lines draw an open box around it, its flat grey ceiling spanning the top of the canvas and its uprights running down to the lower edge. Behind, the ground is black and deep red, with a pink rectangular panel at upper left holding a pale outlined chair. The lower two thirds are a dense bed of coral, pink and red strokes. At left a small pale figure with curly hair sits in lavender and cream; at right a larger blonde figure in a pink and grey robe turns inward, a wide pink wing behind its shoulder. Below the centre a smaller figure with grey hair lies back with its legs raised. A dark signature mark sits in the lower right corner.

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*).

Centred and frontal, one figure fills the height, its torso and arms built from overlapping rounded balls in purple, olive green and grey white. Tufted brown hair frames a broad tan face with heavy brows; a brown cigar angles down from the mouth. A pale lavender collar opens at the neck. Tan forearms cross at the waist, the hand at right holding a thin dark rod. White shorts and pale tan legs continue to the bottom edge. The ground is orange above and paler yellow below, with turquoise streaks across mid height. A black oval pan heaped with red, orange and olive marks fills the lower left corner.

“Whatever happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type. That was an American. He wasn’t in touch with his feelings. He just did what he had to do.”

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 seated form fills the centre. Above it sits a wide-brimmed cream hat with a purple band. Beneath the brim, a dark grey rounded mass carries pink and red vertical marks, and a blue triangular shape hangs below. From this point a broad stream of lumpy yellow grains pours down into a pale round bowl. A charcoal jacket with two curved lapels frames the body against a dark rounded chair back. The upper background is deep teal green; a white band runs along the bottom. A red octagonal cloth covers the lower table, a lavender flower stands at right, and a grey beaded utensil rests at lower right.

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*).

Deep black fills most of the surface. Numerous elongated bird-like forms painted in blue and white, each with a long beak and streaked wings, scatter across the upper two thirds. Near the centre a thin blue-white humanoid figure grips a vertical pole. Along a horizontal grey boat in the lower third stand a row of small rounded figures built from stacked circles, each marked with an X for eyes. The word STUGOTZ appears in blue letters on the boat's side. At left rises a pale grey triangular peak. Two white anchors and a chain sit at lower left, and thin diagonal lines extend into dark blue water along the bottom.

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*).

Across the left half of a tall surface stands a large bird-like form built from overlapping rounded units in lavender, pale turquoise, yellow and white, with a rounded head at upper left, a long tapering beak extending to the right, a wing of curved strokes below it, and two narrow legs reaching the bottom edge. A row of red zigzag marks runs horizontally at centre. Upper right holds a white rectangle with purple vertical bars; below it a yellow outlined rectangle contains a white head with two eye shapes. Vertical strokes of ochre, blue, pink and turquoise fill the background.

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

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*).

A bulky standing form occupies the centre, assembled from large overlapping ovals in dusky blue, mauve, pale pink, deep red and grey green, all edged in black. Its upper section is a cluster of small loops in red, yellow, green and blue, topped by green and black vertical strokes that fan out across the top edge. One thin arm reaches left to a small dark tip; a curved tubular shape hangs at the right. The form stands on a long dark red body with two black wheels along the bottom. Streaked grey and white fill the background. A black signature mark sits in the lower right corner.

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

caprocorn sister: war, plague, earthquake, 2020

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

Against a black ground scored with fine vertical lines, three figures occupy the frame. At left a kneeling figure with a blue and green face, yellow patches around the eyes and an open red mouth rests one knee on a green oval. In the centre a taller standing figure leans a forearm on a thin vertical pole; its head is a plain white oval with grey hair, and its body is streaked with grey, red and blue. At right, a third figure stands with its back turned, its buttocks painted as concentric blue and red rings. A dark green box with yellow-green edges sits at lower centre.

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

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*).

Pink and red rounded lobes build a single figure that fills most of a vertical canvas, streaked with white and orange. The rounded head carries two large oval eyes under heavy brows and a small mouth. One arm reaches to the right edge, ending in a splayed hand with separated fingers; the other drops along the left side. Both legs bend, and two long flat feet spread across the bottom. The ground behind is brushed in dark green, brown and black, with pale peach and a small blue patch at upper left and ochre at the right edge. White marks sit at lower right.

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

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

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