Anunay Rai
Multidisciplinary artist investigating inner states and political systems.
From bodies to distortions, from heat to code.
Biography
Anunay Rai is an artist based in Gurugram, India, working across drawing, concrete, material experimentation and digital processes. Born in 1980 in Rourkela, Orissa, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Design and worked in advertising before dedicating himself fully to art in 2021.
His practice moves between inward and outward-facing concerns. Inward works explore the body, memory and emotional states through drawing, pyrography and material transformation. Outward works, such as Tangible Tenacity, address political systems and algorithmic distortion. Across both directions, he works with paper, concrete, ink, coal, sawdust, cow dung, heat and code, creating hybrid forms that combine drawing, sculpture and digital alteration.
In 2022, his work Tangible Tenacity was shortlisted for the Lumen Prize in the Image category. His first solo exhibition No Syllabus was held at Lalit Kala Akademi in 2022. His work has been featured in Art & Deal Magazine, published by Hidden Gem Collective, and he has shown in the group exhibition Fragments of My Memories (2025).
Artist Statement
My practice moves between drawing, sculpture, material experimentation and digital processes. I work with paper, concrete, wood, ink, coal, chemical stains and heat. Some marks are planned through small, parallel experiments, while others arise from the natural behaviour of materials. Burning, oxidation, imprinting, glitches and slow reactions shape how each form develops. The work grows through a balance of deliberate testing and material response.
The human body is often the starting point. In inward-facing works, this includes my own body as well as female forms drawn from sketches, photographs and digitally altered studies. These works explore desire, tension and inner states. In outward-facing works such as Tangible Tenacity, the body becomes political, shaped by collective movements and systems of power. In both directions, the figure functions as a point of departure rather than something to depict. It eventually reduces into lines, patterns or distortions—what remains is the trace.
Materials play a long role in the studio. Concrete casts may sit for months before finding their place. Burn marks come from soldering irons, dhoop sticks, camphor or cow dung. Potassium permanganate creates stains that shift over time. My digital processes operate similarly: code becomes a tool for altering drawings and figures through distortion, repetition and transformation.
My practice moves between control and openness. Planned experiments guide the direction, and materials shape the outcome. Whether turning inward toward the body or outward toward political systems, I return to a simple idea: nothing is fixed, and nothing fully disappears. Every action leaves a mark, sometimes visible and sometimes subtle, but always present.