An artist who explores complex human psyche and manmade spaces

Artist Pooja Iranna’s intense exploration of the complex human psyche has been a long-standing one. In her formative years, she has witnessed the ultimate submission of a generation grappling with the demands of a consumerist society, its hopes and dreams of the past now consigned to memory. A messy tangle of multi-storied skyscrapers replacing a spangle of minarets and tomes that once dotted the cityscape has made its imprint in her conscious memory. The architectural spaces seem to strike a balance with the human condition.

Born in New Delhi in 1969, she completed M. F. Arts (Painting) from College of Art, New Delhi (1995) and received the Charles Wallace India Trust Award in 2002. Among her selected solos are 'Of Human Endeavor: The Super Exposed City and the New Possibilities of Space' at The Guild, Mumbai (2009); 'Metamorphic Mathematics' (2003-04); 'Reflections', Wimbledon School of Art, London (2002); ‘House Of Cards', Art Inc, Delhi (1999); 'Paper Works', Shridharani Gallery, Delhi (1996). She has featured in a number of group exhibitions this year, including 'Love to Live', Palette Art Gallery, Delhi; 'A. SYCO', The Viewing Room, Mumbai; 'Invisible Cities', Aicon Gallery, New York; 'Size Matters or Does it?', Latitude 28, Delhi; 'India Rising: Tradition Meets Modernity', courtesy Ati Art Gallery.

In her pictorial realm, images that surface from past and current times capture her impressions of the city she terms her home, and its metamorphosis into a metascape she can now barely recognize. Standing at the edge of this precipice -, part-real, part-fantasy - the feeling of cosmic loneliness and the inevitable spectre of ‘a forlorn world encased in glacial solitude haunts us.

The artist has been working in many mediums to explore her buildings and spaces outside and inside. She has extensively worked with paper and has also used photographical imagery as a powerful mode of expression over the years.