August 24 2026
Raghava KK: Building global conversations through art and ideas
(Aug 24, 2026) Internationally acclaimed artist Raghava KK has taken contemporary Indian ideas to the world through global exhibitions, TED talks and boundary-pushing collaborations across art, technology and philosophy. His work is part of collections belonging to Bollywood stars, Indian cricketers, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and members of Morocco’s royal family, while challenging conventions and sparking conversations across cultures.
At 17, while most youngsters are still figuring out where to hang out after college or what to study next, Bengaluru-based Raghava KK was already working as a political cartoonist for several reputed Indian publications and persuading the Government of India to send him to France! Not for an art show or a talk, but to just stand at India’s pavilion at an international trade fair, sketching cartoons that introduced visitors to the country. It was the late 1990s, a simpler time, and what began as an exciting first assignment for a young artist soon blossomed into a lifelong affair with representing India on the global stage.
He went onto have several adventures across Europe as he hitchhiked across the continent first, and then in another sequence of events, exhibited alongside Syed Raza and Shakti Burman at the Indian Embassy in Paris. During this time, he stayed in the embassy’s staff quarters after the then India’s Ambassador to France, Kapil Sibal, offered him a place to sleep.
What could have felt like an indignity instead became a lesson in humility and adventure. “That’s when I realised art wasn’t just about making paintings—it was about embracing uncertainty,” he tells The Global Indian.
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The accidental ambassador
Looking back, he sees all those experiences as the beginning of a lifelong mission.
I became an unofficial ambassador of India trying to showcase the country on the world stage, and it’s something I love to do till date.
Raghava KK
Through the years, he has not only been a painter, storyteller, educator, technologist and entrepreneur; but also, a shape-shifter and master thought provocateur who refuses to be confined by boundaries or stereotypes. Today, he calls Bengaluru and New York home, creates woodwork in Bali, exhibits through a gallery in Dubai and continues to work on projects across the world. “I am defined by the fact that I can’t be defined,” he pronounces. “I keep reinventing myself. The problem, ‘Who is Raghava’, is for others to solve, not me,” he quips.
The makings of a maverick
On his return to Bengaluru after his first international sojourn, Raghava moved to contemporary art, a space where he constantly challenged conventions. Be it abandoning traditional tools, and painting with his hands and feet, or following Flamenco dancers across Spain and southern France, painting them live as master singer Pepe Linares performed on stage; his unconventional ways made him a sensation in the Indian art world. Top Indian TV channels featured him, while society pages chronicled his rise.
He went on to live in Cambridge close to Harvard University; a life that exposed him to a different kind of education as his home became a gathering place for Indian academics, artists and members of the South Asian community. He attended lectures by historians, writers and political leaders, immersing himself in conversations about identity, history and culture. It was during those years that he found himself reading authors such as Ramachandra Guha and Shashi Tharoor, searching for answers to a question that had stayed with him since that first trip to France: ‘What is India?’
India through the looking glass
That simple question took him to stages around the world. Whether speaking in Israel or Qatar, he saw every conversation as another opportunity to present a different image of India—one rooted not in clichés, but in curiosity, creativity and coexistence.
I love how Shashi Tharoor describes India through a thali. Every bite is different—a little sweet, a little salty, a little spicy. We are a land of many gods, many languages and many philosophies. India allows every version of you to coexist.
Raghava KK
The global exposure also made him long more for India. “I had to leave India to realise what it meant to me and I missed it deeply,” he reminisces.
That’s why he returned to Bengaluru in the mid-2000s with a renewed sense of purpose: to create narratives that would form the backbone of global conversations. “People today are far more exposed to art and new ideas. But exposure alone isn’t enough. The challenge is not to imitate what we see, but create something original. That’s why I came back—I wanted to create new ideas for the world from India, and then take them from here to everywhere else.”
Art by Raghava KK
Art beyond boundaries
Over the years, his works have travelled into the homes and collections of personalities as varied as Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Madhuri Dixit, Benazir Bhutto, Paul Simon, Jeff Bezos and members of Morocco’s royal family. His journey has also led him to collaborate with creative minds across disciplines—from Benazir Bhutto, Kamal Haasan and Erykah Badu to opera conductor Viswa Subbaraman. But for Raghava, the real achievement isn’t who owns his work or who he has collaborated with; it is whether his art can encourage people to see the world differently.
Look at Japan. It has given the world manga and anime—forms of storytelling that are its cultural exports. What is India’s contribution to contemporary global consciousness? Yes, yoga and meditation, but even those were repackaged through the West. Sometimes we need the world to tell us that something is valuable before we believe it ourselves.
Ragahva KK
More than an artist
Long before diversity and inclusion became global buzzwords, Raghava was already creating works that encouraged audiences to embrace multiple viewpoints. In 2018, he co-founded 64/1 with his brother Dr. Karthik Kalyanaraman, an initiative exploring contemporary Indian aesthetics and pushing conversations around art, technology and philosophy. Among its many milestones was helping curate one of the world’s earliest AI art exhibitions in a gallery setting while supporting pioneering digital artists from India.
Away from the spotlight, he quietly mentors entrepreneurs, artists and young creatives, estimating that more than half his time is devoted to supporting others. He also works with acid attack survivors on an art initiatives that focuses on reclaiming identity through creativity. “More than 50 per cent of my time is given to supporting others as I truly enjoy it.”
In his free time, he plays the piano, designs toys, experiments with new ideas, plays golf and frequently hosts music evenings at his Bengaluru home where friends, artists, entrepreneurs and curious strangers often find themselves drawn into conversations that last for hours.
His advice to young Indians hoping to make their mark on the world is refreshingly simple. “Believe in yourself. We often second-guess our instincts or spend too much time justifying them to the world. The ideas that seem irrational at first are often the ones that make you who you are,” he sums up. “Trust the stupidity in you, because that’s what makes you different,” he signs off.
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Written By: Vikram Sharma