The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2022 - Issue 31

biteartistreview Images courtesy of Mucciaccia Gallery London On a sunny Wednesday evening in June, Oxford Street was buzzing again with people, and the nearby pubs had drinkers happily engaged in deep conversations wearing light clothing. After the shenanigans of the past two years, London finally re- turned to its vibrancy. The opening reception evening at Muc- ciaccia Gallery introduced its visitors to the artistic thinking of creatives on the subject of the world in another realm utter- ly different to the present one. The Otherworldly: Cities/Worlds Without People exhibition explores three artists’ interpretations of the absence of social creatures and the importance of our interconnectivity and surroundings. Kencut, Rich and Wang used a playful colour dense palette in their works, described by the gallery as a “gust of fresh air, hope and optimism and desire to reconnect with others and themselves.” The rich and saturated colours repre- sent human life with humour and childlike spontaneity. Indonesian native Suanjaya Kencut pursued his childhood passion for becoming an artist by enrolling at the Art Insti- tute of Yogyakarta. He started in traditional Balinese art and then evolved into modern 3D art installations. He is currently working on bringing dolls to life using 2D artworks, statues, and 3D art installations. He has participated in group exhibi- tions since 2012 and had his first solo exhibition, ‘KaumMata Kancing’ (Button-Eyed People), in 2019. Kencut won the ‘Best Five Artwork Aksi Artsy’ award in 2017. For the exhibition, he turned the individual into a button-eyed doll and annihilated the surroundings, as if looking at all from above. He chose to represent human beings as dolls, following his desire to recognise all life forms as sacred and restating how humans are social creatures who thrive from the culti- vation of support systems like friends and family. During the pandemic, the artist, like many others, felt disconnected. Thus, he adds hope and optimism to his composition through vivid colours and pictorial realism. German-born artist Daniel Rich received a BA in Fine Art in 2001 at the Atlantic College of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He went on to achieve an MA in Fine Art in 2004 at Tufts University in Medford and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. He translates photographs into paintings that show implicit political and social narra- tives transcribed in the built environment. Whilst his subjects are politically motivated, he is interested in the power of ar- chitecture that functions as an icon of our lived experience and a portrait of a particular moment in the history of society. His recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Never Forever’ and ’Systematic Anarchy’ at the Peter Blum Gallery and ‘Berlin’ with Wieland Speck at the Horton Gallery in New York. He’s also shown his exhibitions ‘On A Boat, Looking for Land’ with Gil Heitor Cortesão at Carbon 12 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and ‘Platforms of Daniel Rich Daniel Rich Lincoln St. Denver 2021 Daniel Rich Paramount Building NYC 2021