A Strange Creature: Tjokot and Tjokotism

A Makara, before 1971, 30 × 19 × 13 cm, private collection

The sculpture depicts a makara, a motif found in numerous representations from India to Southeast Asia, including China. The makara is a mythical creature associated with the aquatic realm. Its features draw from those of the elephant, the crocodile, and the dolphin. Endowed with a protective function, its image is often placed on the thresholds of palaces or temples, such as at Borobudur, as shown in the picture below.

Two makaras on the west staircase of the Borobudur temple, Java, Indonesia, 1920, Leiden University collection, image under Creative Commons license

The makara is also traditionally the mount of the goddess of the Ganges, Ganga, and of the god of the ocean and waters, Varuna. At times, it is accompanied by another symbolic creature emerging from its mouth—for example, a lion or—as in the sculpture reproduced here—a snake.

It is not certain that an untrained eye would immediately identify this sculpture as Balinese, so markedly does its style differ from most local productions. The body of the makara is compressed into a very compact volume. On one of the two lateral faces of this volume, the head, the paw, the tail, and the snake protruding from its mouth form a sophisticated skein of ornamental curves, most of them bordered by a jagged fringe. Some surfaces feature sharp incisions, suggesting a fold or a motif on the creature’s body. With their bulging eyes, wide-open jaws, and prominent teeth, the head of the makara and that of the small snake are particularly expressive. As for the wood, it is matte and rough, without grain or patina, in an ochre tone veering toward grey. Chisel marks are visible in places, and the carver has clearly chosen to leave certain cracks visible in the piece of wood from which he carved the figure.

This style is characteristic of the work of I Nyoman Tjokot (1886–1971—the name is sometimes spelled "Cokot"), an artist who holds a singular place in modern Balinese sculpture. Tjokot was born in the village of Jati, in the district of Tegallalang, a relatively isolated location some fifteen kilometres north of the town of Ubud. Self-taught and often described as an eccentric, he developed a body of work imbued with deep spirituality and inhabited by a bestiary whose strangeness flourishes in grimace and grotesquerie. His creative process stands in marked contrast to the customs prevailing in Balinese sculpture: rather than selecting fine, freshly cut blocks of wood in order to carve predetermined motifs, Tjokot picked up pieces of wood shaped by the elements directly from the ground. His work is the result of a dialogue between his imagination and those natural forms that chance provides him.

Several of Tjokot’s children and grandchildren became sculptors. By developing and reinterpreting the distinctive visual language created by their elder, they gave rise to a movement known as "Tjokotism."

An example of "Tjokotism": A group of six monkeys seated in a shrub, mid-20th century, 65 × 36 cm, a sculpture formerly in the collections of the Tropenmuseum (Amsterdam) and restituted by the Netherlands to the Republic of Indonesia in 2023, image under Creative Commons license

The frequent absence of a signature and the strong formal resemblance between the works of Tjokot and those of his descendants make attribution extremely difficult. The small makara discussed here was acquired by its first owner in the 1970s. The person who sold it to me could tell me no more. Given the quality of its execution, it is not impossible that it is a late creation by Tjokot himself. However, after some research and patient comparison, I would say that the carver could just as well be one of Tjokot’s sons, I Ketut Nongos (1935–2021), who was himself a remarkable carver.