Sophie Ryder

Last updated

Sophie Ryder (born 1963) is a British sculptor, painter, printmaker and collagist [1] known for her large wire structures. Ryder typically uses bronze, wet plaster embedded with found materials, sheet metal, marble, and stained glass.

Contents

Biography

Sophie Ryder was born in London, England, in 1963. She studied combined arts at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1981 to 1984, focusing initially on painting. She changed her focus when the Royal Academy's director, Sir Hugh Casson, encouraged her skills development in sculpture. [2]

Works

Sophie Ryder: Minotaur and Hare on Bench (1995) Canary Wharf, London Sophie Ryder - Minotaur and Hare on Bench.jpg
Sophie Ryder: Minotaur and Hare on Bench (1995) Canary Wharf, London

Ryder's sculptures sometimes represent mystical creatures, animals and hybrid beings created in assemblages of materials such as sawdust, wet plaster, obsolete machinery, toys, weld joins, wire 'pancakes', torn scraps of paper and charcoal sticks. Her iconography includes the character of the Lady Hare, which she sees as a counterpart to Ancient Greek mythology's Minotaur. Her most known piece is the Lady Hare, a hare with a female human body. The works have been commended for questioning human relationships to the natural and folkloric worlds while contemplating dualities of perception. [4] [5] [6]

In 1994, a depiction of five minotaurs was excluded from an exhibition at Winchester Cathedral because the sculpture included genitalia as part of the anatomy. [7]

Ryder has stated, "I don't sit and contemplate what it is I am trying to achieve. My head is full of ideas all the time. It is part of my life. I don't plan anything, it just comes." Similarly, when asked about the prominence of hares in her work, the artist stated, "it's the same as asking me why I make sculptures, and the answer is because I feel driven to. So it's difficult to always pin down reasons. My introduction to hares was when my lurcher dog would proudly bring hares home and drop them at my feet." [8]

Solo shows [9]

1987

1988

1990

1991

1992

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2016

2017

2018

References

  1. ↑ "Ryder, Sophie, b.1963 | Art UK". artuk.org. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  2. ↑ "SOPHIE RYDER". sophieryder. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  3. ↑ Sophie Ryder: Minotaur and Hare on Bench Canary Wharf Art Trail. Canary Wharf Group. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  4. ↑ "Creating Mythical Hybrid Creatures, Sophie Ryder's Exhibition Challenges Our Perspective On the Animal World". LeftLion. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  5. ↑ "Sophie Ryder on mythology, majestic animals and the male-dominated field of sculpture". Creative Boom. 13 October 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  6. ↑ Benington, Jonathan (2001). Sophie Ryder. Sophie Ryder. Aldershot, Hampshire: Lund Humphries in association with Berkeley Square Gallery. ISBN   0-85331-826-3. OCLC   47270995.
  7. ↑ Alberge, Dalya (7 April 1994). "Cathedral ban on sculptor's 'indecent' minotaurs: Sophie Ryder's latest work has fallen foul of church censors because of its 'too prominent' genitalia" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  8. ↑ "Waterhouse & Dodd". Waterhouse & Dodd. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  9. ↑ "Ryder 2018". calameo.com. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.