I Dewa Putu Mokoh

I Dewa Putu Mokoh was born in 1934 in Pengosekan, Ubud. He learned to paint under the guidance of his uncle I Gusti Ketut Kobot, but by the 1970s, Mokoh’s work had diverged significantly from his teacher’s style. He developed a personal visual language that made him stand out in the landscape of Ubud painting.

His uniqueness came not only from his simplified, detail-averse painting style but also from his choice of themes. Childhood memories, humorous events from his surroundings, and scenes of modern life seen on television were all depicted with freedom and spontaneity. Mokoh’s works often evoke a smile—true to the meaning of his name: “mokoh” in Balinese refers to something round, plump, and amusing in appearance.

His focused, minimal compositions stood in stark contrast to the complex and intricately detailed works of earlier Pita Maha painters, offering a refreshing counterpoint in the evolving creative expressions of Balinese art at the time.

Alongside his younger brother, I Dewa Nyoman Batuan, Mokoh was part of the Pengosekan Painting Group, and his works were regularly featured in major exhibitions across Bali, including those held at Taman Budaya Denpasar and the Museum Puri Lukisan in Ubud, Abroad He has participated in group exhibitions in Australia, USA, Japan, Finland, Holland, Denmark, Germany and Italy, and also Mokoh exhibited at the Venice Biennial in a two-man exhibition with Mondo in 1993, and he had a solo exhibition at the Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan in 1995. Among his most well-known students was I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih (1966–2006), a trailblazing modern Balinese painter.