BY ALEXIA JAMES
Jeena Raghavan is a rising force in contemporary art, and her name – which fittingly means “to live” – already says much about her work. In a world where so many artists are shaped by formal education and traditional career paths, Raghavan stands out as a refreshing anomaly.
Her story begins unconventionally. Born in London and raised in Bangalore from the age of six, she was the child who drew on restaurant napkins and, with her mother’s surprising blessing, on her home’s walls. At just 13, she mounted her first solo exhibition in London, a series of 30 Ganesha paintings that raised money for charity. Yet despite this precocious talent, art school nearly derailed her. During her A-levels, she received a D in art – not for lack of skill, but because she couldn’t produce the required preparatory work. Her intuitive, flow‑state creative process simply didn’t fit the academic mould. Fortunately, a mentor saw her work and declared it gallery‑ready, and Parsons School of Design, where she went on to be formally educated, accepted her on portfolio alone.
What immediately distinguishes Raghavan’s work is her extraordinary relationship with colour. She calls herself a “colour explorer”, sometimes mixing what she estimates to be 75 different shades of red in a single piece. Her palette draws from Indian textiles and spices, while her brushwork reflects the kinetic energy of New York, where she has lived for eight years. Viewers consistently use the same word to describe her paintings: movement. This quality, first noticed by a collector when she was just eight years old, remains the thread running through her career. Her technique is equally distinctive: using custom‑made wood blocks, she creates intricate textures and layers that reward close inspection.
Her themes run deeper than her vibrant surfaces might suggest. She explores the primal connection between humans and animals – instinct, intuition and the shared vulnerabilities that bind all living creatures. The fox appears frequently in her work, drawn from the Panchatantra tales of her Indian childhood, representing agility and the ability to navigate complex situations. The spiritual philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti’s words – “To be vulnerable is to live, to withdraw is to die” – have become a touchstone for her practice. “When you decide to be vulnerable, people will take advantage of you,” she acknowledges, “but all in all it makes you very powerful. You are living more honestly and being more real with yourself.”
The New York art scene is notoriously unforgiving, and Raghavan’s breakthrough was neither quick nor easy. After graduating from Parsons, she spent two years in her studio, the first ten months focused solely on developing what she felt was her best work. Her first break came through a chance conversation in a SoHo gallery, which led to a group show in Chelsea featuring 100 emerging artists – an exhibition that drew a line around the block. Her first solo show in New York, at Revelation Gallery in the West Village in January 2024, was nearly derailed by a terrible storm. Yet 150 people still turned up, and she sold her first two pieces from the series that night.
Recent achievements suggest Raghavan is moving beyond “emerging” status. In 2025, her portrait of the mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan was acquired for Stanford University’s permanent collection. Even more striking, tennis legends Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf became collectors of her work, commissioning a portrait that captures, in her words, “the warmth between them”. Her work has appeared in 24 shows in New York across galleries and event spaces and in one in Madrid, and she has sold pieces to collectors across the US, London, Singapore and India.
Jeena Raghavan is that rare artist whose work improves upon acquaintance. The initial impact – vibrant, playful, almost overwhelmingly colourful – gives way to something more substantial: genuine technical innovation, thoughtful thematic exploration and an authentic voice shaped by three continents. The D in art, the detour through Christie’s and Kate Spade, the years of persistence before recognition – these have given her work a depth that pure precocity cannot provide. As she continues to develop, with new series and shows on the horizon, Jeena Raghavan is an artist very much worth watching.
