Brooklyn based artist Lori Nelson and German artist Moki Mioke, who goes by “Moki”, illustrate different ideas of ‘strangeness’ in their art. For Nelson, this is embodied by her characters’ physical appearance, while Moki finds it in her surroundings. The two artists will exhibit together at the Cotton Candy Machine gallery in Brooklyn on September 11th. For her exhibition titled “Coming of Age”, Lori Nelson expands on her cast of young monster-movie inspired subjects covered in hair and scales. Like one of horror’s most famous characters, the monster of Frankenstein, Nelson’s are also perpetually misunderstood. They are not so different from normal, human children, born into innocence in spite of how “freakish” or different they look. In dramatically lit oil paintings, we watch as they experience the insecurity, fear and isolation that are often felt with coming of age.
Lori Nelson
Moki has varied artistic styles that span from detailed and surreal acrylic paintings to more graphical works, where strange beings also dwell. For her latest series, “No Place Like Home”, she says, “I am looking for places that are good for hiding, where you feel secure and safe, where you can disappear or return home. Where you can be invisible.” Drawn in black line on wood verneer, her subjects appear in a state of migration as they are carrying all of their belongings. The reason for their displacement in unclear, as Moki is focused more on the journey. Along the way, she depicts rugged settlers huddled together, an elephant saddled with blankets, and makeshift shelters such as treehouses, a recurring image in her work. Get a preview of Lori Nelson and Moki’s exhibitions below, on view at Cotton Candy Machine gallery from September 11th through October 4th, 2015.
Lori Nelson:
Moki:
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In her signature style that blends magic realism with storybook illustration, American painter 
