(Ayano Nakano) Lotta

Lotta's work is strongly influenced by Western cartoons and Japanese animation. Her paintings are primarily monochrome (black, white, and gray) with flowing curves and lines that give her characters a lively sense of movement.

She is best known for her signature character: Socks the Ghost Cat. Socks is a mysterious ghost cat with a pitch-black body and only the tip of its tail white, as if wearing a sock. According to the artist's lore, Socks can travel freely between novels, dreams, and the memories of living beings through a mysterious power called "DIVE".

While her main media are acrylic painting and line drawing, Lotta's practice extends across multiple disciplines, including:

Apparel collaborations and fashion design

Tattoo design

Live painting

Wall murals

She is also a devoted music lover, frequenting clubs and DJ bars in Tokyo since her teenage years. This passion informs her practice: she organizes irregular exhibitions in these spaces and designs flyers as a way to connect music and art.

Lotta's work has been shown in Tokyo, Kyoto, Taipei, New York, and Seoul. Notable exhibitions include:

"MÖWE" (2021, Kyoto) — The title is German for "seagull," which Lotta associates with freedom and wind. The exhibition was created as a response to the suffocating atmosphere of the pandemic, aiming to bring comfort through art.

"Light Your Soul" (2023, KIAF Seoul) — This exhibition introduced Meltverse, a fictional world inspired by candlelight where all creatures are destined to melt someday. It featured new characters alongside Socks, exploring themes of hope, fragility, and the passage of time.