Localisation: Havraní náměstí / Panská street, in front of the entrance to Rabenštejnská věž
The sculpture “Concrete Garden” takes the form of a small garden made of light-coloured concrete. Three separate shapes stand on a massive, cubic base. The whole piece measures 120 cm in height, and the plinth takes the form of a cube with sides measuring 70 x 70 cm.
Each of the three form resembles a plant at the moment of developing: a bud, a flower, a fruit or a fleshy leaf. All the elements have the same light grey, slightly warm colour. The surface is not shiny. It looks raw, matt, in places like a cast made of concrete or light-coloured stone.
The base of the sculpture is a simple, tall block. It has the shape of a large cube with flat walls and sharp edges. Its surface is uneven, with small abrasions, streaks and traces of dirt. Small, low plinths have been placed on the upper surface of the block. They have the shape of truncated pyramids: they are wider at the base and narrow towards the top. Concrete plant forms grow out of three of them. One small plinth remains empty.
At the front there are two lower sculptures. The one on the left resembles an open flower or a chalice. It grows out of a narrow neck, which at the top divides into three wide, curved petals. The petals are thick and fleshy. Two of them are on the sides of the plant, the third is at the back. The ends of the petals stretch out to the sides and lift slightly, and the sharp tips point upwards. The inside of this form is in an apparent hollow between the petals and resembles a pomegranate fruit. The base of this fantastic plant is another petal, a quasi-stem, which points downwards, reaches the plinth and curls through 180 degrees, again pointing towards the sky.
On the right-hand side at the front there is a more vertical form. It resembles the chalice of a slender flower with long, high petals, portrayed just before opening. This form has a narrowed lower part and a slender body. At the top, the body gently opens into several petals. One petal curls inwards and creates a shape similar to lips or a fold of skin.
Behind them stands the tallest form. This is the most massive element of the sculpture. Its centre is formed by two large, rounded petals placed vertically next to each other. This object is symmetrical. It is formed by petals on both sides of the object. The petals are quite broad, flattened. At first sight they resemble lungs or the outline of an apple. They are convex, smoothly rounded and separated by a narrow slit running from top to bottom. In the central part of this object, a long, rounded protrusion rises upwards. It lifts vertically and then bends slightly. Its end is cut off, like an open tube or a stem cut at an angle.
All the plant shapes are simplified, but clearly organic. They do not reproduce one specific plant. Rather, they combine the features of flowers, leaves and buds. Their forms are rounded, swollen and full of tension, as if something heavy were trying to develop out of a hard material. The objects may evoke associations with anatomical forms; they resemble parts of the human body.
On the surface of all the objects there are subtle traces of modelling. The petals have shallow grooves, soft transitions and local hollows. In some places there are vertical lines resembling leaf veins or traces left by joining the mould. The edges of the petals can be sharp, but they are not thin like real leaves.
The sculpture uses the tension between the theme of a garden and the material, concrete. Flowers and buds are associated with softness, growth and fragility, but here they are cast in a heavy, grey mass. “Concrete Garden” looks like a garden stopped in time.