Important Notice

"The king began as a fairytale figure for Iranna, drawn from the stories his grandmother used to tell him when he was a child in Sindgi; but the figure outgrew the context of nostalgia to become a means of commenting on the harsh realities of history and political life” (Ranjit Hoskote, The Dancer on the Horse: Reflections on the Art of Iranna GR, Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad, 2006, p. 29).

G. R. Iranna's body of work negotiates... "The king began as a fairytale figure for Iranna, drawn from the stories his grandmother used to tell him when he was a child in Sindgi; but the figure outgrew the context of nostalgia to become a means of commenting on the harsh realities of history and political life” (Ranjit Hoskote, The Dancer on the Horse: Reflections on the Art of Iranna GR, Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad, 2006, p. 29).

G. R. Iranna's body of work negotiates contemporary crises of identity and the effects of sociopolitical forces, both positive and negative, on the human psyche. Usually relying on the nondescript figure of everyman to convey his message, the cast of Iranna's large scale canvases has recently expanded to include the ‘Retired King'. Iranna's turbaned kings, however, do not express generations of imperial tradition, grandiosity and majesty. Rather, they are men "trapped between past and future, power and the loss of power. These are tragic inheritors of lost empires, deceived by cunning mapmakers and their own inability to second-guess the dark angel of history” (Ibid.). In the present lot, Iranna uses his trope of the retired king to highlight the ephemeral nature of authority and situation. Here, six men, attired in full regalia from head to toe, sit side by side. Hands in their laps, they seem expectant; yet the only advancement of their narrative seems to be in the form of the crumbling wall behind them, revealing rusty patches of age and decomposition.

The artist's rough tarpaulin surface, and the thorough, unsympathetic technique with which he works on it, complements the existential turmoil of his subjects. Fully immersed in paint and textured with drips and splatters, Iranna's activated surface reflects the physicality of his creative process and heightens the growing anxiety of his characters. Explaining his use of tarpaulin instead of canvas for these large-format pieces, Iranna says, "A smooth surface binds me…I want to extend myself, for which I need rougher surfaces. The choice of materials I use reflects my temperament. After working on various types of paper and canvases, I opted for the rough surface of tarpaulin. It shows the restlessness in me. I like the rusted surface of an iron sheet and old depleted walls. These surfaces excite me to create…” (as quoted in Ibid., p. 26, 27).

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