Mustafa Ozel

director/Expert tutor

Mustafa Ozel is an Istanbul-based Turkish painter and sculptor known for figurative oil paintings, primarily portraits and nudes. Utilizing unusual, technically challenging poses, he balances limbs and forms to manipulate positive and negative space. His subjects often interact powerfully with dark or spacious backgrounds, creating balanced compositions. While some works are smooth, his best feature a loose, controlled paint quality with evident brushstrokes and rich mark-making, shifting the focus from the subject to the paint itself.

Flesh is central to Özel’s practice; his distinct rendering of skin captures complex textures. He frequently hides, crops, or averts faces, creating anonymity where the model serves as a vehicle for the painting rather than a traditional portrait subject. Conversely, his visible portraits are stunning, capturing fleeting emotions through rich facial colors and cold, objective execution. Under strong lighting with high tonal contrast, Özel highlights physical definition, an element I aim to emulate.

To explore this flesh rendering and compositional balance, I plan to photograph myself and my boyfriend under high-definition lighting, introducing more skin into my work without full nudity. This will also aid my responses to Tai-Shan Schierenberg and Mikael Björklund.

Özel’s internationally exhibited art appeals to collectors of Turkish art and figurative painters. His work has sold at Sotheby’s for up to $15,000, and he founded the Altamira art studio.