![\"With](\"https:\/\/img.onmanorama.com\/content\/dam\/mm\/en\/default-images\/default-image.jpg\" "\\"rajiv-menon-5\\"")
<\/p>\nOften, migration blurs cultural memories. Thirty-seven-year-old Rajiv Menon, the US-based gallerist, chooses to sharpen them. He does it by making a space for South Asian art at the heart of Hollywood. Here, the art and its creators are not nostalgic, not peripheral \u2014 but central to his vision. His gallery, Rajiv Menon Contemporary, is nearing its first anniversary, marking a year of quietly reshaping how diaspora and American audiences encounter contemporary Indian art.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t even have good handwriting,\u201d he says with a chuckle. Lone strands from messy curls brush his forehead. As we settle down for a chat on a balmy day in Kochi, he glances over the manicured greenery around him and the swing that dangles from the tree. He takes in everything, but not like an artist. He feels his purpose is more of a communicator.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not an artist. But speaking about art is my deepest form of expression.\u201d Rajiv sees himself as a translator \u2014 someone who listens closely to artists and helps audiences understand the worlds they come from. \u201cPutting that into words,\u201d he says, \u201cis its own art form.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\t \tWith a background in postcolonial theory, Rajiv is wary of how ‘South Asia’ is frequently flattened into a single narrative. Photo: Arun Sreedhar\/ Manorama. <\/p>\n
Early Influences: Texas, travel and texts
Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Rajiv grew up in what he calls a \u201cglobal city.\u201d Museums, cultural diversity and exposure to history shaped his imagination early on. His parents, Govind Prasad and Amrita, were central to that formation. His father worked in the Merchant Navy, and both parents travelled extensively before settling in Texas. \u201cThey were brave enough to build a life in a new country,\u201d he says. \u201cThat courage \u2014 especially the courage to start something of your own \u2014 comes from them.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Rajiv, travel was never framed as luxury, but as education. So was literature. As a teenager, he found himself drawn to Indian and Indian-American writers who wrestled with questions of belonging, migration and memory. \u201cBy 15 or 16, I knew culture would be my life in some way,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n
College years in Washington, DC, and New York sharpened that conviction. At New York University, where he later completed his PhD, he immersed himself in visual culture, film and theory. Scholars like Gayatri Gopinath and Rajeswari Sunder Rajan encouraged him to remain critically engaged with his roots in Kerala and India. \u201cThey taught me to look at the world closely \u2014 and to question it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\t \tRajiv\u2019s interest in culture extends beyond galleries. He actively supports Indian fashion, challenging the idea that it is static or purely traditional. Photo: Arun Sreedhar\/ Manorama. <\/p>\n
From television to the world of art
After college, Rajiv spent nearly a decade working in television in New York. But beyond office hours, he gravitated toward galleries and artists\u2019 studios. It was there that he began noticing a disconnect. \u201cIndia was becoming more visible globally. Diaspora artists were producing powerful work in the US. But there wasn\u2019t enough effort to connect those spaces,\u201d he says. \u201cYoung Indian Americans cared about their heritage, but contemporary art wasn\u2019t always part of that engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2023, he made a decisive move \u2014 leaving television to launch a gallery dedicated to South Asian art. He had never curated before. \u201cIt was completely new territory. But I felt compelled to try.\u201d The response, he says, was overwhelming.<\/p>\n
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\t \tFor Rajiv Menon, travel was never framed as luxury, but as education. Photo: Arun Sreedhar\/ Manorama. <\/p>\n
Why Hollywood?
Choosing Hollywood was deliberate. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the world\u2019s centres of visual culture,\u201d he explains. \u201cIf South Asian art is placed here \u2014 not on the margins \u2014 it signals that it belongs in the main conversation,\u201d he says, adding that Rajiv Menon Contemporary operates as a space of exchange between South Asia and North America. For Rajiv, art must move beyond decorative stereotypes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the US, Indian culture is often reduced to surface imagery. Art allows for complexity \u2014 political, emotional, philosophical.\u201d He is equally invested in how diaspora communities see India. \u201cSometimes, India in the diaspora exists only in memory. I want people to engage with the India of today \u2014 evolving, plural and dynamic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Resisting simplified identities
With a background in postcolonial theory, Rajiv is wary of how \u201cSouth Asia\u201d is frequently flattened into a single narrative. \u201cEach artist has a different understanding of what South Asia means,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen you see those perspectives together, you realise the region can\u2019t be fixed into one definition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plurality, for him, is not a slogan but a method. His literary grounding shapes how he curates. \u201cI read a painting the way I read a novel \u2014 thinking about structure, voice, and what larger story it\u2019s telling.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\t \tSupported by parents who built their own business and a brother working in technology, Rajiv chose a different path \u2014 culture over convention. Photo: Arun Sreedhar\/ Manorama. <\/p>\n
A space of hospitality
The gallery remains free and open to the public. It hosts community gatherings, including Onam celebrations, blending cultural familiarity with contemporary practice. \u201cI want Indian hospitality in the gallery,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople should feel comfortable asking questions.\u201d Writers, filmmakers, fashion designers and students walk in regularly. Accessibility matters to him as much as excellence. \u201cThe work should be rigorous \u2014 but the space should be welcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recently, the gallery presented artists at the Jaipur Centre for Art (JCA) and India Art Fair in New Delhi, introducing diaspora artists to Indian audiences. Several works were acquired by Indian institutions \u2014 a milestone Rajiv describes as deeply affirming. \u201cThere\u2019s a perception that diaspora art is disconnected. I wanted to show that it\u2019s thoughtful, relevant and part of the larger conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kerala: Memory and meaning
Though raised abroad, Kerala remains emotionally resonant. His father spent part of his childhood in Fort Kochi, and the family\u2019s roots extend to Kannur and Thrissur. \u201cLanding in Kerala always feels intense,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s something immediate about that belonging.\u201d<\/p>\n
He speaks with particular pride about the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. \u201cIt\u2019s among the most important art events globally. The intellectual depth and political engagement are remarkable.\u201d Watching artists he collaborates with exhibit there reinforces his commitment to building transnational bridges.<\/p>\n
![\"rajiv-menon-6\"](\"https:\/\/img.onmanorama.com\/content\/dam\/mm\/en\/default-images\/default-image.jpg?w=845&h=440\" "\\"rajiv-menon-6\\"")
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\t \tThough raised abroad, Kerala remains emotionally resonant. His father spent part of his childhood in Fort Kochi, and the family\u2019s roots extend to Kannur and Thrissur. Photo: Arun Sreedhar\/ Manorama.<\/p>\n
Fashion, film and the language of culture
Rajiv\u2019s interest in culture extends beyond galleries. He actively supports Indian fashion, challenging the idea that it is static or purely traditional. \u201cIt\u2019s innovative and global,\u201d he says. \u201cWearing Indian designers abroad is also a way of amplifying them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cinema remains another passion. Malayalam films such as ‘Kumbalangi Nights’ and ‘Jallikattu’ resonate deeply with him, and he admires Adoor Gopalakrishnan\u2019s storytelling. \u201cFilm carries culture across borders in powerful ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travel as inquiry
Rajiv spends nearly half the year travelling. His method of understanding a new place is consistent: museums first, then galleries, then conversations with emerging artists.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how you grasp a city\u2019s pulse,\u201d he says. Even food is part of that inquiry \u2014 an inheritance from a childhood where curiosity was encouraged.<\/p>\n
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\t \tRajiv spends nearly half the year travelling. His method of understanding a new place is consistent: museums first, then galleries, then conversations with emerging artists. Photo: Arun Sreedhar\/ Manorama.<\/p>\n
The larger vision
His long-term ambition is clear. \u201cI want an Indian artist to become a household name in the US.\u201d For Rajiv, contemporary art can shift perceptions of India, which Western institutions often confine to antiquity. \u201cIndian culture isn\u2019t frozen in the past. It\u2019s alive and constantly changing.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the centre of his work is a refusal to choose between identities. \u201cI can be Indian, American and global at once,\u201d he says. \u201cThese aren\u2019t contradictions. They\u2019re expansions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supported by parents who built their own business and a brother working in technology, Rajiv chose a different path \u2014 culture over convention. A year into his gallery\u2019s journey, he continues to build conversations across oceans, insisting that South Asian art not only belongs in global spaces but helps redefine them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Often, migration blurs cultural memories. Thirty-seven-year-old Rajiv Menon, the US-based gallerist, chooses to sharpen them. He does it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[217611,217616,217619,217618,228,226,227,217620,217609,229,217614,88,217613,217621,217612,175333,217608,217615,217610,217617],"class_list":["post-468072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-ai-art-exhibition-hollywood","tag-ai-in-art-market-analysis","tag-ai-powered-art-discovery-platform","tag-art-from-india-in-us-galleries","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-bridging-indian-and-american-art-worlds","tag-contemporary-indian-art-diaspora","tag-design","tag-diaspora-artists-indian-art","tag-entertainment","tag-hollywood-art-scene-south-asian-artists","tag-how-ai-influences-art-curation","tag-llm-driven-art-curation","tag-rajiv-menon-contemporary","tag-south-asian-art-gallery-hollywood","tag-understanding-contemporary-indian-art","tag-us-based-gallerist-south-asian-art","tag-visual-culture-south-asian-artists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}