G. R. Iranna

G. R. Iranna (born 1970) is an Indian contemporary artist working in painting, sculpture and installation art. His work has addressed themes including social conflict, memory, violence, mortality and impermanence, and he has used materials including ash and found objects in his practice.

In 2016, the National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru, presented a retrospective of his work, And the Last Shall Be the First: G. R. Iranna, Works 1995–2015. In 2019, he was one of the artists represented in the India Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale.

Background and career

Iranna was born in 1970 in Sindagi, Karnataka, and spent part of his childhood in a gurukul. He later studied at the College of Visual Art in Kalaburagi and completed postgraduate studies at the College of Art, Delhi. The exhibition was also covered by Artforum.

The same period included Garbh, a large ash-based installation shown at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. The Indian Express described the work as combining the form of an egg, suggesting the beginning of life, with ash, representing its end.

Iranna received the National Academy Award from the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1997.