Vojtěch Trocha

Vojtěch Trocha (b. 1989) studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in the studios of Jaroslav Róna and Lukáš Rittstein (2009–2016); he still works at the school in the stucco workshop. He is a classical sculptor who uses distinctly unclassical materials and methods: his approach is the opposite of traditional carving — he adds material rather than taking it away, and assembles large compositions from small parts. He originally worked with paper and cardboard structures, gradually moving to wood; besides resins he uses glued wooden blocks, sticks, cardboard and paper pulp. In recent years he has worked almost exclusively with bamboo skewers, whose “simplicity and absurdity” led him to explore the creative potential of the material; he treats the limits and monotony of the material as the starting point for experiment.

In his work, playfulness and an eye for detail meet a deep interest in history and its material traces in art and craft; in various ways the work touches on the opposition between the inner space of a sculpture and its surface. What matters most to him is the making itself — choosing the material is time-consuming and demands precise work.

He has exhibited among other places at Studio PRÁM, at GASK in Kutná Hora and at the CoCo Gallery (the exhibition “THIS IS NO ACCIDENT”); he took part in the exhibition “Three Dimensions of Love. They Studied Sculpture with Lukáš Rittstein”. He took part in the first Pasečná Sculpture Symposium (2022) as part of the Art in the City festival, where he made the bench-object “Caterpillar on Mushrooms”. In 2023 his 3D-printed sculpture “Hand” was sold at a charity auction.