Born in 1939, Kerala and trained at the Government College of Art and Craft, Madras, where he earned a diploma in painting in 1961 under K. C. S. Panicker, later studying monumental painting and engraving at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, from 1967 to 1970 on a government scholarship. His practice is defined by geometric abstraction, blending Indian tantric sensibilities with Western geometric modernism through carefully structured forms such as triangles, squares, rectangles, and circles, often suggesting elemental forces like fire, water, earth, air, and ether. Rather than formless abstraction, his works are precise geometric constructions marked by rhythmic repetition and subtle color relationships. His extensive body of work has been widely exhibited in India and internationally. He has received several notable awards, including honors from the Lalit Kala Akademi, Madras, awards at the All India Print Exhibition, New Delhi, and the International Festival of Painting at Cagnes-sur-Mer, and the K. C. S. Panicker Puraskaram. Narayanan has been based in Paris for over three decades, where he continues to live and work from his studio.