G.R. Iranna is not just an artist – he is a seeker, a witness, and a storyteller of our time. His work, layered with bruised textures, tormented energies, and evocative silences, bridges the traditional with the contemporary, the personal with the political.
Hailing from a rural Karnataka, Iranna’s artistic journey began on the village roads of his childhood, where he sketched Hanuman with chalk on freshly laid-out streets. These innocent gestures, etched in dust and devotion, were the first whispers of a life-long commitment to the visual language of spirit and struggle.
Raised in the disciplined environs of Sarang Math, a traditional ashram school, Iranna’s inner world was shaped early by meditation, inquiry, and solitude. Encouraged by his guru to pursue art, he went on to earn a Master’s from the College of Art, New Delhi. A transformative moment arrived in 1999 when he received the Charles Wallace scholarship and studied at Wimbledon School of Art, London – an exposure that significantly expanded the depth and scale of his practice.
Iranna’s artistic evolution is unmistakable. His early canvases featured mythic, raw central figures – meditative presences that hovered between vulnerability and power. Over time, his visual language has turned more abstract, leaning into form, texture, and gesture. His preferred materials, like canvas and tarpaulin, often bleed with visual metaphors – resistance, inner dissonance, and healing. His work doesn’t just hang on a wall – it pulses, bleeds, and breathes.
Contradiction is his co-creator. The crude and the refined, the figurative and the formless, clash and reconcile on his surfaces. These tensions become visual metaphors for our very human contradictions – fragility and strength, yearning and stillness, decay and transformation.
In a conversation at Aicon Gallery in New York, Fareed Zakaria, eminent commentator on global affairs, was scheduled to explore G.R. Iranna’s inner and outer worlds – his philosophical grounding, his creative evolution, and his vision as a contemporary Indian artist whose works defy borders and binaries.
Iranna’s medium is as fluid as his inquiry. From pastel sketches to monumental bronze sculptures, from meditative drawings to immersive installations, each material speaks a different dialect of the same spiritual language. His works are invitations – to reflect, to pause, to awaken.
Over the years, he has exhibited at some of the world’s most prestigious venues – from solo exhibitions in Delhi, Mumbai, Hong Kong, and London to group shows in Amsterdam, Chicago, and Cairo. He represented India at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. His numerous accolades include the Lalit Kala Akademi’s National Award, the AIFACS Award, and recognition from the British Council, among others.
Today, Iranna lives and works in New Delhi with his wife and fellow artist, Pooja Iranna. Together, they embody a rare blend of partnership, creativity, and mutual inspiration.
This week, Iranna returns to the global spotlight with an unmissable event in New York. On April 18th, Aicon Contemporary, a leading gallery that has long represented Iranna and showcased his work extensively, will host a special evening of dialogue and discovery. Scheduled in the evening at the gallery, the event features an intimate conversation between G.R. Iranna and Indian-American journalist and political commentator Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN’s GPS and author of The Age of Revolutions.
Zakaria, known for his razor-sharp insight into global change, was scheduled to explore Iranna’s inner and outer worlds – his philosophical grounding, his creative evolution, and his vision as a contemporary Indian artist whose works defy borders and binaries. Their dialogue promises to be both cerebral and soulful, bridging art, identity, and transformation in the 21st century.
As the world grows louder and faster, Iranna’s work continues to ask the most sacred questions: Who are we beneath the noise? What is pain if not a pathway to truth? How can art become not just an object, but an experience?
At its essence, Iranna’s art is a mirror – and a wound, and a balm. It doesn’t shout; it listens. It doesn’t explain; it invites. It’s less about answers and more about asking the right questions.
And perhaps that’s what makes G.R. Iranna not just an artist, but a modern mystic – one who paints with silence and sculpts with spirit.
(Photos courtesy: https://irannagr.com/ )
