Sofia Minson

Sofia Ruth Minson (born 1984) is a contemporary New Zealand painter. She was born in Auckland, New Zealand and spent her childhood living in Samoa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. In 2005 Sofia won first prize in two New Zealand art awards - the Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Award and the Auckland East Arts Council Art Competition - and graduated with a B.Des. degree in Spatial Design from Auckland University of Technology in 2006. She exhibited extensively throughout New Zealand from 2004 onwards and in 2006 was invited to show her works at the museum at Estense Castle, Ferrara, Italy and at Agora Gallery, Chelsea, New York.

Minson's first solo exhibition entitled "Te Here Tangata - The Rope of Mankind" was held in Auckland in October 2007. The show was a collection of 14 large-scale oil paintings based on her Māori (Ngati Porou), Swedish and Irish heritage.

Minson's Maori ancestry is reflected in her large, yet finely detailed oil paintings of the land, myths and people of Aotearoa (New Zealand). She also celebrates Asian, Pacific, Western and African cultural diversity through portraiture. Her landscape and portrait work maintain a smooth style combining aspects of realism and surrealism.

External links

* [http://www.sofia.vc.net.nz/ Sofia Minson official website.]
*myspace|artsofia
* [http://www.agora-gallery.com/SpecialExhibitions/SpecialExhibition.aspx?exhibitionId=EN59A150AC_79FE_4FAD_9CDD_6C3B31927A41 May 2007 New York Exhibition.]
* [http://www.toi.co.nz/ArtGallery.aspx?ArtistId=69&ArtistName=Sofia%20Minson Toi o Tahuna Gallery representing Sofia Minson's work.]
* [http://www.lostateminor.com/2007/04/10/sofia-minson/ Minson and her work featured]