G. R. Iranna

Biography:

Born in 1970 in Sindgi, Bijapur, Karnataka, G.R. Iranna is a renowned contemporary Indian artist known for his contemplative works. Iranna completed B.F.A. in Painting from the College of Visual Art, Gulbarga (1992) and M.F.A. in Painting from the College of Art, New Delhi (1994). Iranna is known for his quasi-abstract style of works that centers around the impermanence of life. He uses the modernist and representative language of Indian contemporary art.

GR Iranna works mainly on canvas and tarpaulin and employs repeated motifs which are either figurative or formalistic. He always breaks away from his artistic styles and renews his work occasionally. His artworks can also be seen as an appreciation of poetry, myth, pain, and the quest for the spiritual self. He experiments with acrylic, watercolour, as well as natural materials like ash and slowly moved to abstract paintings and also started working on sculptures. Iranna’s interest in expressing himself in a physical medium, which allows touching and shaping the form, was the reason behind this move to the third dimension. 

Iranna has held more than 20 solo exhibitions of his work with galleries in New Delhi, Mumbai, London, Munich, Singapore, and Hong Kong, among other cities including, ‘Ribbed Routes’ and The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai in 2010; ‘The Birth of Blindness’, AICON Gallery, London & New York, UK & amp; the U.S.A. in 2008; ‘Disorder and Early Sufferings’ Gallery Muller & Plate, Munich in 2006; ‘Dream & Perplexity’ by The Guild, at the Chitra Kala Parishath, Bangalore.

He has participated in numerous group shows and been invited to participate in curated exhibitions, such as, ‘Living Walls: Where Gallery Walls Become Artist’s Canvas’ A collaborative art project with Art Alive Gallery, 2013; ‘Giant Elephant’, Indian contemporary art exhibition, H. Cube Ltd., Seoul, Korea in 2011; ‘Indian (Sub)Way’, curated by Yashodhara Dalmia, Grosvenor Vadehra Gallery, London, the U.K. in 2010; ‘Retrieval Systems’, curated by Ranjit Hoskote, organised by Art Alive Gallery in 2009.

He was invited to participate in Residencies and workshops, including the Residency by George Kith Foundation at Dambola, Sri Lanka, in 2003 and an artist-in-residence programme at Wimbledon School of Art, London. GR Iranna is the recipient of various accolades such as the ABPF Foundation’s Signature Art Prize - Singapore Art Museum Jury Award [2008]; Harmony Show Artist of the Year Award, Harmony Foundation, Mumbai [2004]; KK Hebbar Foundation Award, in 2002; Charles Wallace Scholarship between 1999 and 2000; 40th National Academy Award from Lalit Kala Akademi and the AIFACS Award in 1997, and National Scholarship from Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India in1996.

His works are part of collections at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Bharat Bhawan, Bhopal; Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi; Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Rajshree Pathy Collection, New Delhi; S.A.M. Museum, U.S.A.; Chester & David Hurwitz, U.S.A.; David Robert Collection, London (U.K.); Singapore Art Museum; and others, including personal collections at Mumbai, Delhi, Germany, Switzerland, Paris, Holland, Austria & elsewhere.

He lives and works in New Delhi.

Artworks By G. R. Iranna