Oototol's Queer Military Fantasies at Fort Gansevoort

Fort Gansevoort, New York, is presenting the first major exhibition of the late Balinese artist Dewa Raram, known as Oototol, through June 19, 2026. The show features rarely exhibited large-scale ink paintings from the post-Suharto reform era (after 1998), depicting uniformed soldiers in ambiguous, tender, and erotic scenarios. Oototol, an illiterate self-taught artist from Pengosekan Village, died in 2008. His monochrome works, such as 'Untitled (Figures with Sunglasses and Cats)' (c. 2002) and 'Untitled (Kissing Frogs)' (c. 2003), subvert military authority through queer subtext, parodying Indonesia's first president Sukarno and critiquing the country's authoritarian past. The exhibition includes documentary photographs of the artist wearing a peci cap, sunglasses, and starred epaulettes—a costume echoing Sukarno. The works were originally reserved for the viewing pleasure of his fellow self-trained artists in Pengosekan. The review, published in the Summer 2026 issue of ArtReview, highlights how Oototol's soldiers—caring for animals and each other—smuggle queer desire into a rigid society, resisting biographical speculation.