Sophie Ryder
Sitting
2007
Sitting
2007
My
attention was drawn to Sophie Ryder’s sculpture, Sitting. What had caught my eye was the detail in the muscle form
of the back. I was fascinated with the figurative shape the artist had achieved
considering the large size. Although I could not find exact dimensions of it, I
would guess it to be around 15ft high. After working with wire myself during 3D
classes, I feel I appreciate the sculpture more as I understand the difficulty
of wire work. It is by far the most impressive sculpture I have seen in person
because of this.
I found it to be very similar to Sophie Ryder’s Crawling, a bronze sculpture created in 1999. The main difference being that this particular art work was sculpted to look as though it was made from machinery, almost robotic.
The body of the sculpture was fully covered in these machinesque parts. As impressive as Crawling is, I find the anatomy of Sitting to be more accurate. The curvature of what represents bone and muscle structure certainly assumes the role of a human body.
I sculpt characters and beings – the dogs, the hares, the Minotaur’s – are all characters beyond animal form. I am not interested in making a replica. If you would put a real hare next to one of mine you would see great differences – Sophie Ryder, www.sophieryder.net/
I found it to be very similar to Sophie Ryder’s Crawling, a bronze sculpture created in 1999. The main difference being that this particular art work was sculpted to look as though it was made from machinery, almost robotic.
The body of the sculpture was fully covered in these machinesque parts. As impressive as Crawling is, I find the anatomy of Sitting to be more accurate. The curvature of what represents bone and muscle structure certainly assumes the role of a human body.
I sculpt characters and beings – the dogs, the hares, the Minotaur’s – are all characters beyond animal form. I am not interested in making a replica. If you would put a real hare next to one of mine you would see great differences – Sophie Ryder, www.sophieryder.net/
The only
thing I disliked about Sitting was
that it was split in two. I suppose most people find that to be the alluring
thing about it, but personally I feel it down grades the beauty of the
sculpture. When viewing from the side, I feel it pulls the attention away from
the detail of the form.
Sophie Ryder’s most famous art works are that of
the lady-hare. She began the Lady-hare when looking for a partner for the
Minotaur’s she would sculpt. She wanted to use the body of a female, and when
choosing what head would suit best she decided the hare was most fitting. The
bodies of these hare’s were based on the body of Sophie Ryder herself, so it
could be argued that the lady-hare is partly a self-portrait. The more
developed the sculptures became, the more the artist made the head appear to be
a mask, so that it was more clear the body was that of a human underneath.
I will consider Sophie Ryder’s sculptures for influence in my own abstraction work. I may reverse the role and use a human head with an animals body. I will try to focus my attention to the anatomy of the body as closely as possible in the style of Sophie Ryder.
I will consider Sophie Ryder’s sculptures for influence in my own abstraction work. I may reverse the role and use a human head with an animals body. I will try to focus my attention to the anatomy of the body as closely as possible in the style of Sophie Ryder.
