Sophie Ryder

Art Brokerage: Sophie Ryder British Artist: b. 1963. Sophie Ryder was born 1963 in London, England. During her childhood, she travelled regularly with her French mother to Provence in the south of France where the family spent entire summers. She studied Combined Arts at the Royal Academy of Arts where, while obtaining her diploma in painting, she was encouraged by her teachers and fellow artists to develop her sculpture. She emerged on the contemporary art scene in the late 1980s with a unique cast of hybrid animal imagery: hares, dogs, and minotaurs. The hare usually takes on a female form, in contrast to her minotaur which, following classical mythology, combines a bull's head with a virile male body. She uses these animal forms to explore human emotions and relationships, thinking about questions of masculinity and femininity, originality and dependence, union and loss. Ryder's sculptures are most often made from manipulated wire or in cast bronze. Her works have been exhibited widely throughout Britain, Europe, Canada and USA.