‘LIKE SHARE SUBSCRIBE’ At Rajiv Menon Contemporary Gallery, LA, Engages With The Intangible Influence Of Social Media

If every scroll is a brushstroke in the masterpiece of pop culture, then double-taps are the gallery reception nights, one you might not want to miss. Rajiv Menon Contemporary, a recent addition to Los Angeles’ illustrious cultural scene, transforms its space into another groundbreaking show in an attempt to define millennial vocabularies with a fine curation of South Asia and its diasporic artists. A phenomenon that strongly identifies with today’s generation, is the power of social media. We stand in an era where influencers have outsized the impact on our popular culture. Endorsing this very idea, Rajiv Menon titles his latest curation by picking on a ubiquitous phrase that we are as used to hearing as frequently as perhaps the sound of a clock’s tick-tock – ‘LIKE SHARE SUBSCRIBE.

 In an era where quantitative metrics, especially likes and view counts, emerged as markers of aesthetic and cultural success, Menon attempts to critique, re-evaluate and present alternative possibilities for navigating today’s culture. He shares, “I wanted to think about how art could intervene within this space, and challenge the centrality of influencer logic in how we conceive our culture. I wanted to present a fun summer pop show that felt inclusive and accessible, but also built a larger curatorial critique about the way we prioritise digital culture over other mediums, and the harms that come from having influencers as our cultural centre of gravity.”

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Today’s pop culture is defined by digital content and is ephemeral by design. Menon wants to question this easy consumption and its lack of permanence in materiality. Ahsan Memon’s painterly figurative defies the logic of digital visibility. “In a moment where so much of our online lives are built around personal branding and narrative. His soft-focused figures and ambiguous mood emphasise an aesthetic of uncertainty. His work is not directly dealing with social media, but provides a powerful critique simply by defying its cultural and visual logic.”, comments the gallery founder Juxtaposed to Memon’s moody atmospheric portraits are Komail Aijazuddin’s glamorous portraits reflecting on his childhood days while growing up in Pakistan. He evokes the very feeling of nostalgia looking back into an era where social media timelines weren’t prevalent.

Maria Qamar’s positioning in culture blurs the line between influencer and artist. Her art subtly dabbles around quirky memes, making it comprehensive to the GenZ. Similar to Aijazudin, Qamar under the Instagram pen name ‘HateCopy’ deeply grounds her work based on personal narratives. “This particular work [a carrom board] is a tribute to her late father, who was a local carrom champion. The board articulates a particular type of diaspora consumer culture and imagines how Maria’s visual language can live within a domestic space. But it’s also rooted in her sense of family and loss, and reveals the humanity that underlies something seemingly meant for mass distribution,” adds Menon.

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With emerging influencers, street art has become ubiquitous on our phone screens. Similar to graffiti art forming an aesthetic backdrop for street-style photography, Navinder Nangla brings his graffiti into this white cube. Presenting a series of 27 unique tags, Nangla cheekily misspells high-street fashion brands, pokes fun at label-obsessed consumerism, and bridges the boundary between street culture and the gallery. “I was struck by the singularity of Navinder’s practice,” shares Menon. I especially like how his work is both a personal expression of his dyslexia, while also gesturing to the wider world of street culture of his youth, particularly bootlegging. His work is such a clear manifestation of his personality and history.  He was out tagging the city through the exhibition; his presence has also permanently altered Los Angeles.”

Adjacent to Nangla’s striking installation, is Tarini Sethi’s futuristic utopian wall installation infused with folk-like sensibilities, especially Gond Art. By reviving the indigenous art form, Tarini has managed to introduce the LA audiences to India’s wider visual vocabulary. With such contemporary statements, folk arts today see a new wave of appreciation. However, Rajiv sees folk art as an inherent part of our popular culture. He adds, “Dominant forms of culture like film and fashion are always borrowing from the folk. I think of how Bollywood films drew upon Nautanki, or an Indian runway fashion references folk textile practices, as examples of this dynamic.” With a similar intention, Viraj Khanna revives the indigenous craftsmanship of aari, zardosi and diverse techniques of hand embroidery as he presents hyper realistic portraits in a presentation never explored before. In addition to the engaging medium, his quirky artwork titles such as ‘An hour into the blind date’ stand as a commentary to the multiple dating apps that have changed today’s definition into meaningful relationships. 

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With the very notion of ‘LIKE SHARE SUBSCRIBE’ in a gallery setting, one instinctively resonates with digital art. However, this show only focuses on diverse tangible materials such as paintings, mixed media and embroidery. However, the show does extend real-time on social media. By leveraging the power of social media and the buzz created by the interaction by influencers, Rajiv Menon sees a powerful metanarrative developing in the show’s underlying themes. “I think a lot about a statement by online curator Leia Jospe, who referred to influencers and tiktokers as a new generation of outsider artists, and this exhibition has been a great opportunity to see that in action,” he concludes.

‘LIKE, SHARE, SUBSCRIBE’ is on view at Rajiv Menon Contemporary in Los Angeles until July 28, 2024.