Original Paintings Catalogue

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With each brushstroke, Sofia Minson expertly weaves ancestral wisdom from around the world into images for a globally connected audience.

Drawing on common myths and legends that unite us all, Sofia Minson's work is inspired by her Ngāti Porou Māori, Swedish, English, Scottish and Irish heritage.

Sofia has been capturing the imagination of discerning art buyers worldwide with her original paintings and prints for over 20+ years.

As an indigenous Māori artist from New Zealand, Sofia has the unique perspective of having lived in Samoa, China and Sri Lanka, and she has travelled extensively beyond.

With each brushstroke, she expertly weaves ancestral wisdom from around the world into images for a globally connected audience.

This universal appeal has lead to exhibitions in such prominent cultural centres as:

New York
Italy
Turkey
New Zealand - Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown

A slice of New Zealand history, Sofia’s original paintings are a must in any internationally significant collection of indigenous art.

Original Paintings Available

Hand painted on canvas

Artworks available for sale

Te Waka a Māui

Ink-like vinyl paint (flashe) on canvas
1644 x 3072mm (triptych, including frame)
NZD 150,000

Make an enquiry to view Te Waka a Māui

Koru

Matte black vinyl paint and metallic pearl acrylic on canvas
1370 x 1370mm (including frame)
NZD 100,000

Koru is an organic pattern spiralling out from Te Pō, the Long Night. Represented in the black background, Te Pō is the fertile darkness from which Te Ao Mārama, the World of Light, is born into existence. The koru designs, painted with a metallic pearl luster, branch off from one another and spiral on infinitely.

Just as branches grow from a tree, you can see that each koru is branching off from its predecessor, with another branching off from that. It creates something close to an illusion of an infinite fractal pattern. When you take a closer look, you can see smaller korus branching off from larger ones. Bright, defined curves organically flow out of generative chaotic darkness.

The artist's journey

Sofia describes how creating this piece was a very different experience for her. In working with pattern, there is no formal landscape or portrait to bring into fruition. Rather, it is a process of playing with the idea of creation, of bringing yin and yang and light and dark into the context of a single pattern. “Working so often with intense portraits and lifelike forms, I wanted to break this up to create something more abstract.” Though she usually uses a sense of realis m in her work, Sofia strayed from the norm with Koru and created a fun, playful piece that is entirely pattern based.

“Painting Koru was a very free-flowing, full-body experience for me.”

The size of the piece allowed her to create soft rounds and circles, mapping out the shapes with the full length of her arm. Using the extent of her reach, she felt a connection to the canvas in a more bodily, spiralling way. In this sense, painting it was almost like a dance – and an amusing reflection of the koru.

The original mapping out of the pattern was a physical, playful experience. It grew from Sofia’s unconscious in much the same way that Te Ao Mārama grew from Te Pō, a depiction that is clear in the painting itself.

Something born from nothing

The piece follows the same vein of inspiration drawn from creation mythology that Sofia’s entire body of work is centred around. Understanding the origins of form and being is something which the artist has in mind both when painting and when simply existing in her day-to-day life.

From the pregnant womb of Te Pō comes light, creation and infinite growth – a concept that relates directly back to the creation myth and Māori mythology. Many of Sofia’s works have the underlying theme of black and white, of something born from nothingness. What begins as a void moves into different stages of potentiality, from which Te Ao Mārama bursts forth in the spiral of creation.

“Te tōrino haere whakamua, whakamuri."

"At the same time as the spiral is going forward, it is returning”

Sofia has also used fractal patterns in some of her other works. These pieces share the same concept of a spiral that simultaneously moves into the centre of who you are whilst also expanding outwards. This plays with the tension of what we identify as our personal, inner mind versus a universal mind or Self and where the two may meet.

Make an enquiry to view Koru

Terraces of Myth

Oil and flashe (vinyl paint) on canvas
1550 x 2080mm
NZD 100,000

Terraces of Myth is part of The Navigators series of work. There are mysteries within mysteries to uncover when I paint primordial New Zealand landscapes. I let my imagination loose in a world that is familiar yet surreal and full of stories.

Terraces of Myth is Te Tarata or the White Terraces. Lit in a vivid pink hue against the deep black sky, this painting is contemporary yet ancient and mythical. The writing "I AM" overlays the silica formations, recalling Colin McCahon's work. The form of the landscape is influenced by Charles Blomfield's 19th-century paintings of what some called the Eighth Wonder of the World.

The pink and white terraces once spectacularly cascaded down the hillside in the thermal Rotorua region. 11 days before the 1886 eruption of Mt Tarawera, a number of Māori and European people saw a waka wairua (spirit canoe). An omen of disaster. They all reported a ghostly waka taua (war canoe) paddling across Lake Tarawera. Its occupants were clearly visible and dressed traditionally for death. The volcano violently erupted and the lake bed blew out killing 153 people.

The deep, matt black, painted with flashe (acrylic vinyl), symbolises Te Kore, the formless void. In Māori cosmology, Te Kore is unlimited potential for being. From that womb of emptiness came Te Pō, the night that lasted for aeons. A slow dawning conception of light seeded itself in the prevailing darkness. Moisture emerged and coupled with a cloud that grew from the dawn. From this union came the heavens and the earth.

The intense fiery colour in this painting is Rūaumoko, the god of earthquakes and volcanoes. The son of Ranginui (Sky Father) and Papatūānuku (Earth Mother).

Rangi and Papa once clung together in a tight embrace. Their sons forced them apart to create a world with more air, space and light. Rangi's tears for his lover flooded the land. The sons decided to turn their mother face down so she and Rangi wouldn't have to gaze longingly at each other. When Papa turned over, Rūaumoko was still at her breast, and was carried to the world below. To keep him warm there he was given fire. The rumblings that disturb the land are made by him as he walks about.

The colour of the terraces also makes me think of the Greek legend of the Phoenix. The long-lived bird dies in a chaotic fire of destruction. The ash becomes fertile ground from which new beginnings emerge, from which the Phoenix rises again.

The black areas refer to this ash. We die mini-deaths all the time. Deaths of bad ideas during constructive dialogue. Ego deaths when we cycle through suffering. And every night while we sleep we go into astral realms that we barely remember, only to be reborn upon waking every morning.

We choose how to remake ourselves in every moment based on the stories we tell ourselves. This is where the idea of I AM comes in. We recall Colin McCahon's 1970 painting Victory over death II. On the enormous 2 x 6 metre canvas he quotes in his cursive handwriting, the crisis of faith experienced by Jesus. In his architectural lettering he paints in barely visible black, the question AM I, and in luminous white, he paints the affirmative I AM.

When Moses asked for God's name (Exodus 3:14) God responds "Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh." This can be translated as "I Am that I Am" or "I Will Be What I Will Be" (indicating a 'becoming') or contracted to "I Am."

There is power in using the phrase I AM, in using the name of God in our own lives. We cast spells on ourselves by telling ourselves negative or positive things about who We Are.

Make an enquiry to view Terraces of Myth

“I weave together archetypal gods and symbols to help us navigate this changing earth.

Through my art, I explore seeds of truth that are common between traditions seemingly spread far and wide across time and space."

- Sofia Minson

Original Mixed Media Paintings Available

Hand painted and digital art on canvas

1-of-1 original artwork: This unique technique Sofia used here fuses her hand painting skills and digital craft.

Available for sale

Twelve Heavens

Original hand painted and digital art on canvas
1230 x 1820mm (including frame)
NZD 75,000

"It repurposes a pre-existing symbol in my work, the portrait of Rangi, and places him in a fresh context. I hand-painted Rangi at a large scale using watery washes of flashe (vinyl paint) on canvas. I took a high-resolution digital capture of the painted work. Using digital technology I created this repeating twelve-sided mandala pattern. Having printed this on canvas, I created the rest of the composition by hand using acrylic and flashe paints. The portrait in this new context, takes on a more complex meaning." - SOFIA MINSON

Twelve Heavens is a cosmic portrait of the twelve celestial realms of Rangi.

From the summit of the heavens, Tikitiki-o-rangi, to the realm closest to earth, Rangi-nui (Sky Father).

Cosmic lineage

First is Te Kore, the formless void. Unlimited potential for being. From that womb of emptiness comes Te Pō, the night that lasts for aeons. A slow dawning conception of light seeds itself in the prevailing darkness. Moisture emerges and couples with a cloud that grew from the dawn. From this union comes the Twelve Heavens of Rangi. Ranginui, the sky above is nearest to Papatūānuku, his lover the earth.

Symbol of the void

The splattering black paint stroke represents Te Kore. It symbolises creative work or the making of something novel, whether it be material or conceptual. The process is sometimes messy, curvy and uncontained. It is yin (feminine) in nature. It is the receptive flow state, from which we receive divine inspiration.

Twelve-sided Mandala

The wheel of repeating faces forms a twelve-sided mandala. In Hinduism and Buddhism, mandalas are sacred geometric symbols that represent the cosmos and are used to aid meditation.

Placing Rangi inside a circle indicates that growth in the direction of enlightenment is cyclical. There is a spiralling path of many lessons upward, there is never a straight line. The goal is to evolve through cycles toward autonomy and away from our subconscious programming.

Sacred geometries lie at the heart of the mandala. You can see the intersecting circles of the Flower of Life. It is a mathematical symbol found in most ancient cultures, including 'laser-burned' into granite at The Temple of Osiris in Egypt. Also present are the Fruit of Life, The Star of David and the Merkabah. These 2D shapes are representations of living energy fields that surround the human body.

Portrait of Ranginui

The portrait of Rangi was inspired by dozens of black and white 19th-century photographs of Maori. Portraits by C.F. Goldie and Gottfried Lindauer were also influential.

Rangi has the indelible mark of Tā Moko Kanohi (face tattoo) encoding his whakapapa. He wears a woven korowai (cloak) painted in metallic gold. His heitiki pendant and earrings are signs of mana and status.

Two white-tipped huia feathers cross each other at the crown of his head. In myth, the huia was once a pure white bird. He was taken from the head of an atua (god) who dwelt in the highest of the twelve heavens. The humble bird was sent on a journey down through the twelve realms of Rangi to earth. His task was to relay a message to Tāne, god of all living things and progenitor of mankind. The message was that it was time for Tāne to climb the heavens to retrieve the sacred baskets of knowledge.

As a gift for transmitting this important message, the atua transformed the white bird's body to black. This represented Te Kore and his journey through the twelve dimensions. More feathers were added to his tail to make twelve in total and the tips were left white to mark the heavens. Lastly he received a new name - Manu Huia.

Multimedia

The technique Sofia used here fuses her hand painting skills and digital craft.

Make an enquiry to view Twelve Heavens

Sound of the Universe

Original hand painted and digital art on canvas
1300 x 1300mm (unframed)
NZD 75,000

"It repurposes a pre-existing symbol in my work, the carved pou, and places it in a fresh context. I hand-painted the central blue carved pou at a large scale using oil paints. I took a high-resolution digital capture of the painted work. Using digital technology I created this koru and infinite setting. Having printed this on canvas and giving it final touch with paint I was able to create new meaning from this work." - SOFIA MINSON

From this carved pou with whale eyes, our ancestors speak the vibration of Om, the Sanskrit sound of the universe. This consciousness comes from a dimension that feels deeply underwater and underworld and yet also cosmic and galactic.

The subject of 'Sound of the Universe' is an exaggerated representation of a pou (carved post) symbolizing Sofia's Ngati Porou ancestors' waka 'Horouta'. The pou stands in a line-up of ten poupou at the grounds at Te Tii Marae, Northland, and together they represent the great waka traditions linking Aotearoa with the Pacific. Sofia sees the pou as being our ancestors speaking to us with the consciousness of the next world.

The mouth is wide and is a void of blackness, within that blackness is the Sanskrit symbol Aum. Our ancestors are giving us the profound and unifying message of Aum, which is literally the resonating sound of the universe. "The whole world has evolved from Aum The whole world is sustained by Aum The whole world will merge into Aum" - Sivayave.

Guru Sri Chinmoy said that the role of consciousness is to deepen silence and to expand sound. In his Colour Kingdom book the colour turquoise is connected with the idea of consciousness. The turquoise light glowing from the carved figure in the painting signifies the embodiment of a higher consciousness.

The figure's eye in the painting is the eye of a humpback whale. Whales are believed to have mass consciousness, not individual consciousnesses like man does. That means, if something happens to one whale, it is somehow known to the rest. Some believe the deeply peaceful presence emanating from whales, which is palpable to divers fortunate enough to experience close contact, as well as the sacrifice that whales make in beaching themselves, are in order to raise the vibration and compassion of humankind. The figure in the painting has essentially the same role as the humpback whale, as guardian of man.

Make an enquiry to view Sound of the Universe

Circling the Square

Original hand painted and digital art on canvas
1230 x 1820mm (including frame)
NZD 75,000

"It repurposes pre-existing symbols in my work - the male and female portraits - and places them in a fresh context.

They are forms that I hand-painted at a large scale using watery washes of flashe (vinyl paint) on canvas. I took high-resolution digital captures of the painted portraits. Using digital technology I created a repeating four-sided mandala pattern. Having printed this on canvas, I created the rest of the composition by hand using acrylic and flashe paints.

The portraits in this new context, take on a more complex meaning in relation to each other." - SOFIA MINSON

This is a cosmic portrait of the divine and the manifest. The spiritual and the material. The yang (masculine) and the yin (feminine).

Male and female portraits

The male portraits represent a heavenly element such as Rangi. The female portraits personify Te Kore, The Void. She could also be Hine-nui-te-pō, Great Woman of the Night, or Papatūānuku, our Earth Mother.

Their faces were inspired by dozens of 19th-century black and white photographs of Māori, pieced together to become something entirely new in the process.

The spirit and the square

Placing the repeated male and female portraits inside the wheel of circles and squares forms a mandala. In Hinduism and Buddhism, mandalas are sacred geometric symbols that represent the cosmos and are used to aid meditation.

The goal of Spiritual Alchemy is not to turn lead into gold, but rather to "circle the square" and "square the circle." The circle being spirit and the square being matter. It is a geometric analogy for integrating spiritual and physical realities into one balanced Self.

The Flower of Life

In the very centre of the painting, there are overlapping, intersecting circles in gold. This mathematical pattern is known as the Flower of Life. It is found in most ancient cultures across the globe, including 'laser-burned' into granite at The Temple of Osiris in Abydos, Egypt. It is a shape that contains secrets about the building blocks of our universe.

Ascension

The white-tipped huia feathers indicate ascension. Manu Huia travelled through the twelve heavens from the uppermost, to our earthly realm, and back again. He was charged with delivering a message to Tāne, that it was time for him to come and receive the baskets of knowledge.

The material realm

Four toko (props or posts) were employed by the god Tāne to support his father Ranginui above his mother Papatūānuku. Hence my use of the square in this painting to represent the material realm, in which we live. The toko are the four winds of space that come from the north, south, east and west. We owe our lives to those four winds, for without them there would be no air for us to breathe. They drive the clouds across the heavens and lessen the heat of the fiery sun.

Multimedia

The technique Sofia used here fuses her hand painting skills and digital craft.

Make an enquiry to view Circling the Square