We are delighted to have been a partner to the Virtues and Vices of Our Time / 300 Years After exhibition by renowned artist Matyáš Chochola, which was staged as part of the official opening of the winter cycle of exhibitions at the Centre for Contemporary Art @galerieepo1. We like supporting reuse activities, and this exhibition featured sculptures made of recycled concrete.

These are post-modern, ambivalent interpretations of Braun’s Allegories of Virtue and Vice in Kuks. The complete series of 12 sculptures therefore represents the basic principles and archetypes of Chochola’s sculptural work. The exhibition will be open to the public from 13 December and will run until the end of March 2025, and the works on view are part of the Sculpture Line international sculpture project. The exhibition was curated by Vogue CS editor-in-chief Danica Kovářová.

As something of an artistic chameleon, Chochola surprises us with a shift in technique, medium, or subject matter almost every time he introduces new works. And this time is no exception – he keeps on playing with the motif and the execution of allegories in precisely his own way, in unexpected material and form, deciding this time to experiment with concrete 3D printing. Although even his first experiments with such parametric sculpture evoke ancient totems or standing stones, Chochola goes even further. He is looking for a contemporary equivalent to scenes whose meaning carries an inner appeal and which acts through emotion. After 300 years, he presents us with unique sculptures-mementos. How can such a project be conceived in this day and age?

“The sculptures were directly influenced by Braun’s Virtues and Vices series, which I have noticed with their suggestive Baroque atmosphere since childhood. Just as Braun created the sculptures with a team of local stone sculptors, my project involves an entire team whose energy is inscribed in the sculptures,” mentions Chochola. Back when Braun created his sculptures, there were no clear definitions of which virtues and vices each statue represented; on the contrary, radically-modern sculptures caused quite a stir at the time, breaking down prejudices and irritating the tastes of the elites.