I Gusti Nyoman Tjokot

(b. 1886, Tegalalang, Bali – d. 1971, Bali)

I Nyoman Tjokot was a visionary, self-taught wood sculptor who rose from the modest origins of Jati Village, Tegalalang. Born into a farming family, his artistic sensibility was deeply grounded in the rhythms of nature and an instinctive bond with the earth. Unlike traditional sculptors who sought out carefully selected timber, Tjokot was drawn to the discarded and overlooked. He collected stray logs and tangled tree roots carried downriver, recognising in their gnarled shapes and weathered textures a latent vitality that polished wood could never yield.

His creative process was entirely intuitive—an improvisatory dialogue between raw matter and imagination. The sculptures that emerged were radically distinct from the prevailing Balinese aesthetic of refinement. Eccentric, archaic, and often bordering on the grotesque, his works appeared rough-hewn and unfinished. Tjokot deliberately resisted polishing the surfaces, allowing the natural grain, fissures, and contours of the wood to speak for themselves. This approach embodied a reverence for the untamed qualities of his medium, while his subjects—ranging from flora and fauna to the human figure—were rendered with a tribal intensity that transcended mere representation. His style was as much philosophical as it was aesthetic: an assertion of nature’s raw energy channelled through art.

Tjokot’s uncompromising vision gave rise to a new tradition in Balinese sculpture, affectionately termed Tjokotisme. Defined by its raw expressiveness and profound respect for natural form, this lineage endures through successive generations of his descendants, preserving his radical spirit.

Although his work was initially met with resistance in Bali—where conventional notions of beauty struggled to accommodate his unorthodox vision—Tjokot’s genius gained traction internationally. By the 1960s, he was celebrated as a master of modern sculpture, his work resonating with critics and collectors across the world. In 1969, the Indonesian government honoured him with the prestigious Wijaya Kusuma Art Award, recognising the transformative significance of his contribution. Until his death in 1971, Tjokot continued to carve with unrelenting devotion, leaving behind a body of work that permanently altered the trajectory of Balinese and global sculpture.