SOPHIE RYDER (London 1963–lives and works in Cirencester) Crawling (Maquette). 1998. Bronze with green patina. With the incised signature, date and number on the inside of the left thigh: Ryder 98 1/9. 23.5 × 34 × 11 cm. Provenance: - Artist's studio. - Private collection Switzerland. "I sculpt characters and beings - the dogs, the hares, the minotaurs - are all characters beyond animal form. I'm 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 Looking at Sophie Ryder's animal-human hybrids, we are immediately struck by the close connection the artist establishes between mythology and human life, its emotions, and desires. The artist gradually transformed the violent, powerful Minotaur of Greek mythology into a loving protector. With the characterful anthropomorphic "Lady Hare", who stands for desire and fertility, Ryder soon created a worthy companion for the Minotaur. Of fundamental importance is that the free-form head of the Lady Hare, as with all the other heads of Ryder's fantasy creatures, functions merely as a mask. Her own body serves as the model for the female hare. Accordingly, it can be assumed that Ryder is in fact portraying himself. After a short time, Ryder, a passionate dog breeder, also created the "Dogman", which is closely related to the female hare. With her works, Sophie Ryder seeks to convey to the viewer a momentary human emotion in an everlasting form. Ryder's uniqueness lies in her ability to convey the variety of human emotions through body language alone, as the human face and the instinctive sensations that our faces can convey are masked. With her signature works, the artist attempts to capture almost every aspect of what is to be human: vulnerability, fatigue, hunger, happiness, jealousy, pain, love, fear, humour, and sexuality. Crawling on all fours, attentively facing each other and looking into a mirror, these bronze works from 1998-99, mysterious as well as familiar, invite the viewer to interact.