Relooking….
The Marks Left Behind

Vrushali Dhage

With the retrospective showing works done by G.R. Iranna nearly over the past two decades, beginning from his early art school days till the most recent ones; the artist discusses with Vrushali Dhage his journey as a practitioner.

Vrushali Dhage: It is really nice to see such a large body of your works in one show. It must have been a difficult task to select works done over a considerable span of time for the retrospective.

G.R. Iranna: Yes, being a retrospective it has works done over nearly two decades. All I thought was that justice should be done to the manner in which my works have progressed. Given which, it was difficult selecting works; to the extent I
did not insist on having only the good works but also put some which were not as strong, as it had to show the growth.

V.D.: Interestingly you have exhibited a decently large number of your early works, especially of your art school days.

G.R.I: For majority of the artists this early period is undoubtedly the most precious time as a practitioner. There is a strong zeal to see, experience and learn as much as one can. In my case, I was always inclined to art, right from my
childhood. Back in school when the teachers would teach I was always intrigued by the visuals – be it diagrams or simple illustrations, for instance I would even make drawings of the teachers as they taught in the class, for me the visual was always more important than the text. To the extent that I would collect small pieces of chalk and draw on tar roads and somehow that practice still enthrals me. I drew on the wall, as one of my work in the show titled Tempered Branches, February 2014, in Aicon Gallery, New York. Therefore inclusion of the early period was a must. I think I became an artist as it was most viable an option, w.r.t. my inclination and also economically.