Arun Yogiraj, an Indian artist and sculptor, created notable statues like the 30-feet Subhash Chandra Bose at India Gate and the 12-feet Adi Shankaracharya in Kedarnath. |
He also sculpted the white Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa in Mysore and a 15-feet BR Ambedkar in Mysore. |
His sculpture 'Ram Lalla' was installed at Ayodhya's Ram Temple on 22 January 2024. |
Arun Yogiraj comes from a family of sculptors in Mysore spanning five generations. |
His father, B.S. Yogiraj Shilpi, and grandfather, Basavanna Shilpi, were well-known sculptors in Mysore. |
Yogiraj's grandfather received patronage from the King of Mysore. |
After earning an MBA from Mysore University, he briefly worked in the HR department of a private company. |
He left his job to pursue sculpting as a career in 2008. |
Initially, his mother was against him following the family tradition of sculpting but later supported his decision. |
In 2016, Yogiraj created a 10-feet statue of Late King Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar from white marble imported from Austria. |
The statue was installed in Mysore before the wedding of the Late King's great-grandson. |
In 2020, he was commissioned to create a life-sized statue of "The Common Man" by Mysore railway authorities. |
The statue was made of clay and later moulded in fiber. |
A 12-feet tall 3-D statue of Adi Shankaracharya by Yogiraj was unveiled in Kedarnath in 2021 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. |
He turned down a project from the Czech Republic to complete the Adi Shankaracharya statue. |
Yogiraj sculpted a 30-foot tall Subhash Chandra Bose statue in black jade granite stone in Delhi in 75 days. |
In 2022, he created a 21-foot-tall statue of Lord Hanuman in Hoysala style and installed it in Mysore. |
His sculpture 'Ram Lalla' was selected for installation at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. |
To create the idol, he studied features of five-year-old children and took almost eight months to complete the process. |
He received congratulations from notable figures like former Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa. |
Yogiraj made other notable statues including those of Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, BR Ambedkar, Nandi, Banashankari Devi, Sri U.R. Rao, and God Garuda. |
He has contributed to Sculpture Camps at State and National levels and conducts workshops on traditional sculpting techniques. |
Yogiraj has also worked on sculptures commissioned from countries like the Netherlands, USA, Australia, Sri Lanka, UK, and Germany. |
He used to co-manage a sculpture school in Mysore named Kasyap Shilpa Kalanikethana with his father. |