Dayananda Nagaraju grew up in a farming family in Karnataka, where early exposure to agricultural life shaped a lasting sensitivity to land, labour, and rural belief systems. Witnessing farming traditions gradually transform under modern pressures continues to inform his artistic language.

His work is anchored in large, intricate drawings that mirror the dense, interwoven logic of nature. Drawing from tree knots, rice grains, paddy fields, everyday farm tools, and agrarian cosmologies, his compositions unfold as layered visual systems—at once observational and symbolic. Alongside drawing, he reworks traditional agricultural objects that have become functionally obsolete yet remain culturally resonant, extending their narratives into murals and public artworks across institutional and private spaces.

Dayananda holds a post-diploma in Painting from Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Bengaluru, and a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Art from Sri Kalanikethana School of Art, Mysore.