Oototol

Oototol (c.1930–2008), born under the name Dewa Raram, and later known affectionately as “Oototol,” lived and worked in Pengosekan Village, Bali, Indonesia. He came of age during the Japanese occupation in World War II and the subsequent struggle for independence from Dutch colonial rule in the late 1940s, and later lived through Indonesia’s state violence, from the 1965 genocide to the mass killings of 1998. This was a period of profound upheaval that reshaped Indonesia’s cultural and economic life and left a deep imprint upon the artist and his generation. Without formal education or literacy, he found in art his primary mode of expression. His artistic journey flourished after a chance encounter with the visionary Balinese artist Murni (I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih), who was known for her radically personal subject matter. Oototol soon joined Murni and her mentor, renowned Pengosekan painter Mokoh (I Dewa Putu Mokoh), in a small collective of artists who lived and worked communally. Knowledge is limited about Oototol’s personal biography outside of his association with this close-knit group. While many of his contemporaries in Pengosekan Village adopted a unified painting style depicting local flora and fauna in soft pastel tones for the growing tourist economy, Oototol charted a markedly different path by working in a monochromatic palette—using black Chinese ink, bamboo pens and brushes—to create paintings that merged elements of traditional Balinese storytelling with contemporary quotidian subject matter to highly original and idiosyncratic effect. His defining body of work depicts archetypal authority figures dressed in white military-style tunics and caps, a motif purportedly influenced by Oototol’s fascination with Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno, and his iconic attire. Though not overtly ideological, these images reflect the broader spirit of liberation and cultural transformation, as well as subtly encode trauma, that accompanied Indonesia’s postcolonial era. Oototol’s work stands as a singular fusion of tradition, personal vision, and historical consciousness, articulated through a visual language uniquely his own.

Oototol’s work was not presented at museums or galleries during his lifetime. In recent years, his art has been exhibited in Indonesia, Singapore, China, Japan, and the United Kingdom. In 2026 his work is on view at Fort Gansevoort in New York (the first US exhibition devoted to the artist) and at Misako & Rosen and Fig in Japan. In 2025, Oototol’s work was exhibited at Nottingham Contemporary in the United Kingdom, Cc Art Foundation in Shanghai, China, and at Jakarta International Expo in Jakarta, Indonesia. In 2024 his work was exhibited at ROH Projects in Jakarta, Indonesia, and in 2023 at Nonfrasa in Jakarta, Indonesia.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2026
Oototol, Fort Gansevoort, New York, United States

Warna Hidup, ROH projects and Komunitas Salihara Arts Center, Jakarta, Indonesia

Oototol: Luar Negery, Misako & Rosen and Fig. (in collaboration with ROH projects), Tokyo, Japan

2025-2026
Oototol: Luar Negery, Cc Art Foundation, Shanghai, China

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025-2026
I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih: Feels Strangely Good, Ya?, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, United Kingdom

2025
Critically Bali, Gajah Gallery, Tanjong Pagar, Singapore

MuMoToMo II, Gajah Gallery, Tanjong Pagar, Singapore

Art Jakarta, Gajah Gallery presentation, Jakarta International Expo, Jakarta, Indonesia

2024
MuMoToMo, Gajah Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia

There Is No Center, ROH Projects, Jakarta, Indonesia

2023
POWER, Nonfrasa, Jakarta, Indonesia