Pooja Iranna

Born in 1969 in New Delhi, Pooja Iranna received her BFA and MFA in Painting from the College of Art in New Delhi. Pooja Iranna's solo shows include those at The Kala Ghoda Art Fest - 2000, the 41st National Exhibition at the Lalit Kala Academy and others. She has participated in many group shows at Art Today, Art Konsult, and Gallery Escape among others. Her works are in private collections in India, New York, Bangkok, and Hong Kong.

Pooja Iranna’s art works are devoid of human forms. Textures and grids form an important part in her creations. She is attracted to modern architecture, which is her inspiration for the geometrical forms she creates, well planned and minutely detailed intersecting forms composed of lines using simple objects like strings, wood, toothpick, nails, matchsticks etc.  

In Pooja Iranna's world of art, construction and textures play the most pivotal role giving form and meaning to her creations. Iranna uses various types of media to create lattice like structures composed of lines and forms that intersect, unite and connect in what almost resembles an architectural blueprint. The grids she builds up over her surfaces are never the same; each one seems independent and different from the other. In one work there will be toothpicks poised against pieces of wood on a textile background, depicting the omnipresent struggle between regulated order and the anarchy of chaos. In another piece, made the same year, string is used with toothpicks once again, to create a structure much like a treacherous bridge over a threatening ravine, representative of strength and frailty at the same time.

Pooja Iranna has been no stranger to art in India. Born in 1969 to the very famous artists Rameshwar and Shobha Broota, Pooja was never swayed by them to choose the path she did. In fact, she decided not to join the Triveni Kala Sangam, where they taught, and instead received her BFA and MFA in Painting from the College of Art in New Delhi. She says, "While my mother works from the heart in creating abstractions, I use my mind for my mixed-media constructions." If this was not enough of a backing in the arts, Iranna is also married to the South Indian innovative modernist G.R. Iranna, and her brother is involved in the field of design as well. Although Iranna's first choice was to study architecture (we see these influences affecting her work greatly), she was able to very successfully create her own style when she took up art. Her works reflect a meticulous and thorough creative progression. To create her multimedia pieces, Iranna goes through two separate processes or stages - the wet and the dry. After sourcing her materials she shapes them, as she needs to, whether it is stabbing to make holes in them, or slicing them into little slivers. Now the form begins to take shape. Iranna will add to the pieces, starting to give them a definite structure. They are either layered or glued or knotted into little balls to create the final work.

Through Pooja Iranna's works, we are taught that man-made structures and environments reveal a great deal about ourselves and the relationships we are entwined in. Although some may criticize her work as random and chaotic, it reflects and mirrors the very emotions that make people feel that way. Her pieces are based on childhood memories and longings, and are exceedingly well planned and detailed.

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