A sculpture with a woman's body and a rabbit head

Sophie Ryder: Sitting

Art Outdoors /

Sophie Ryder: Sitting

Animals are at the heart of Sophie Ryder’s art practice and her life. Her work abounds with mysterious half-human, half-animal hybrids that seem to spring from a fusion of fairytales, dreams and mythology. Ryder’s enduring character known as the Lady Hare – which she describes a companion for the Minotaur – combines a female body with the head of a hare, a mystical creature in folklore. Like wearing a mask, the persona of the hare makes the figure’s identity fluid and enigmatic. With her highly personal, often playful, style and narratives, the artist explores sexuality and spirit.

Wire has been an important medium to Ryder throughout her career, and is a demanding material to manipulate and shape on this monumental scale. Sitting is over 5 metres high and the figure is bisected vertically so that the surrounding landscape can be seen through it.

  • A sculpture with a woman's body and a rabbit head
  • A sculpture with a woman's body and a rabbit head, covered in snow
  • A sculpture with a woman's body and a rabbit head

You might also like

  1. Joao Vasco Paiva Standard Kitchen 2017 at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
    Art Outdoors

    Joao Vasco Paiva: Standard Kitchen

    For Standard Kitchen, Vasco Paiva collaborated with artisans in East Bali. Together, they used the traditional method of carving Batu Candi, a lava stone often used for building temples and shrines. The stone was shaped to create a life-sized replica of a modular kitchen to consider the processes and spaces that are integral to everyday life.
  2. A tall pointed tower, with glass panels. The sun is rising behind it.
    Art Outdoors

    Kimsooja: A Needle Woman: Galaxy was a Memory, Earth is a Souvenir

    Kimsooja developed this elegant and towering conical sculpture in collaboration with scientists at Cornell University. The nanopolymer in which its panels are covered enhances the refractive qualities of light, giving an iridescent effect similar to that which occurs naturally on the wings of a butterfly or a beetle’s shell. It is responsive to changing light conditions and brought to life by sunlight on its surface.
  3. Anthony Caro Promenade 1996 Courtesy the Estate of Anthony Caro at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
    Art Outdoors

    Anthony Caro: Promenade

    This monumental sculpture takes its inspiration from paintings of trees by French painter Gustave Courbet, and was originally conceived for the Tuileries Gardens in Paris.
  4. Sol Lewitt 123454321, 1993, in the snow at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
    Art Outdoors

    Sol LeWitt: 123454321

    123454321 expresses LeWitt’s approach to minimalist composition. It is a construction of cinder blocks set in a formal arrangement. Each series of blocks is in the proportion 1:1:2. This ratio forms the sequence for the whole structure and is typical of his use of simple numerical systems and serial progressions. The work has a restrained and calculated beauty, which stems from the purity of mathematical principles.