With the emergence of overt functionalism in design and architecture—following the popular acceptance of the Industrial Revolution—classical proportions and features emphasising grandeur, drama and movement took backstage. Since classical art and architecture are often deemed as entities that are difficult to recreate or reinterpret via the usage of modern technology, materials and processes, the bygone antiquated and intricate adornments seldom manifest themselves in contemporary designs and extant architecture.

While Postmodernism—a movement emerging as a reaction to the rigid and minimalist principles of Modernism—paved the way for ornamentation, playfulness and symbolism to influence the design of products and buildings during the late 20th century, its implementation, too, is situated within the scope of cost-effective modern tools, materials and processes. Although the extent of expression in these works is often limited to either a splurge of colours and angular forms or the abstraction of grander details from the yesteryear, they still embody certain latent sentiments and narratives that are otherwise lost in strictly functional designs.

It is, perhaps, with the intention of challenging the notion that modern designs seldom embody intricate details and sensibilities, that Matyáš Chochola, a Czech sculptor and performer, crafted a series of 12 large-scale sculptures that exemplify the potential of modern technology in creating monumental ornamented pieces. Titled The Virtues and Vices of Our Time, these sculptures are on display at the EPO1 Contemporary Art Centre in Trutnov, Czech Republic, from December 13, 2024 – March 30, 2025.

The 12 sculptures, featuring ample curves and the juxtaposition of forms with disparate peculiarities, are created using an innovative 3D concrete printing technology developed in collaboration with Brno-based architecture and design firm Voxell and under the architectural supervision of Jiří Vítek. The sculptures employ concrete 3D-printing technology in an experimental way that enhances the handiwork of each of the 12 monumental pieces. For shapes that could not be achieved within the standard printable angle ranges, the makers underlay the main material with lightweight clay aggregate, hence leaving a unique imprint on the surface of the sculptures. Some sculptures, on the other hand, were divided into segments, printed horizontally and vertically and later assembled to make the final piece. “Algorithms simulating printing errors or glitches were utilised in the programming of the printing paths, while occasional manual interventions introduced uncontrollable forms directly into the printing process,” reads an excerpt from the press release, delineating the disparate mechanical processes undertaken to achieve the final forms.

Chochola’s sculptures derive inspiration from the 18th-century allegorical cycle Virtues and Vices by Matthias Bernard Braun. Renowned as one of the most famous sculptors, carvers and stonemasons of the Baroque era, Braun created 24 outdoor sculptures—for the Kuks hospital in erstwhile Bohemia—that depict the duality of human nature, ergo their virtues and vices. Alluding to Aristotle’s ethics and his pronouncement of the Golden Mean—which encourages people to find a balance between the extremes of excess and deficit—Braun’s sculptures emphatically express 12 contrasting extremes delineated by the Greek philosopher.

Braun’s figurative sculptures, hence, depict the excess of recklessness, overindulgence, wastefulness, extravagance, vanity, over-ambition, irritability or short-temperedness, boastfulness, buffoonery, flattery, arrogance and resentment as well as the contrasting deficits of cowardice, abstinence, stinginess, miserliness, pettiness, lack of ambition, apathy, understatedness, boorishness, hostility, shyness and passiveness, respectively. The Golden Mean, on the other hand, alludes to the virtues of courage, self-control, liberality, generosity, magnanimity, a healthy drive for success, patience, truthfulness, wittiness, friendliness, humility and righteous indignation.

Featuring as postmodern interpretations of Braun’s sculptures, The Virtues and Vices of Our Time series by Chochola reinterprets their meaning for our era, wherein a clearly defined moral code of virtues and vices, as was present in the Baroque period, is either non-existent or exiguously proclaimed and practised. Although designed to reflect the virtues and vices recurrent during present times, sculptural artist Chochola’s series still pays homage to Aristotle's Golden Mean virtues by limiting the number of sculptures to 12. Further, one can find the paradoxical manifestations of the 12 contrasting extremes in the sculptures’ slightly incongruous, albeit structurally and visually counterbalanced outcome, which exemplifies Aristotle’s ethical proclamation that a virtuous life lies between two extremes.

“The sculptures and their unique characters, relationships and references to various historical styles, cultures or values have no clear continuity—they are incorporated freely into the sculptures. They carry both positive and negative qualities mixed into an original cocktail. In this way, they resemble us, humans,” shares Chochola about the concrete sculptures bearing additional hand interventions involving materials such as glass, pigments and bronze. Alluding to the stylistic allusions—which oscillate between antiquity, Cubism, post-apocalyptic motifs, sci-fi and Brutalism—made in this collection, the art sculptures bear the titles Mace I and II, Anemone, Totem, Tires, Brutalist, Cubist, Basalt, Baobab, Picasso, Tree Spirit and Meteor.

A top-down view of the sculptural installation, on the other hand, reveals similarities to pieces on a chessboard. Referring to disparate references made in the series, the exhibition text proclaims, “The artist invites viewers to develop their own personal relationship with each allegory and uncover its unique cryptographic meaning, completing the work through their engagement.”

Although adorned with symbolically weighty allusions that can tendril the pieces under the classification of sculptural art, Chochola’s large-scale installations propel a more dynamic reaction with their structurally dominant presence. Standing tall at three to four metres and weighing around one tonne, the printed concrete sculptures are spatially arranged by the exhibition curator Danica Kovářová within the EPO1 Contemporary Art Centre in a way such that it evokes the image of the ruins of a temple. Chochola, known for experimenting in the fields of public art and architecture, will later move The Virtues and Vices of Our Time sculptures within an architectural setting wherein a dialogue between the public sculptures, architecture and urban spaces can emerge and involve audiences to reflect on the role of art in shaping urban environments.

‘The Virtues and Vices of Our Time’ is on view from December 13, 2024 – March 30, 2025, at the EPO1 Contemporary Art Centre in Trutnov, Czech Republic.