Penny SLINGER is a multifaceted artist who began her career while still at Chelsea College of Art (graduated 1969, 1st Class Honors degree). She wrote her thesis on the collage books of Max Ernst and was awakened to the power of Surrealism and collage. She used this inspiration to create her first series of photo collage, 50% The Visible Woman (1969, published 1971) and established herself as her own muse. During this time she also made a series of 3 dimensional constructions/assemblages, which featured body life casts. She has pursued these modalities and worked in many other media during her artistic career.
This work was included in Young and Fantastic exhibition at the ICA (London) in 1969. She went on to have her own solo exhibitions at Angela Flowers Gallery (London) in 1971 and Opening in 1973. These exhibitions included her photographic collage works and her 3 dimensional ‘Headboxes’ and ‘Tabletops’. The modality of this period has been referred to as Feminist Surrealism.
In 1969 Slinger met filmmaker Peter Whitehead and filmed Lilford Hall in preparation for a feature movie that was never realized. In 1971 She helped establish the all-woman theater troupe Holocaust and performed in the film that emerged The Other Side of the Underneath (Director Jane Arden, 1973). During the 1970s she produced a self expose collage series, published in 1977 as An Exorcism. Set in a deserted mansion house in the English countryside (Lilford Hall) it employs the tools of surrealism to explore the feminine psyche. In this period she also discovered Tantric Art and embarked on a deep study and immersion in the philosophy of Tantra. This resulted in the publication of The Secret Dakini Oracle (1977/79), Mountain Ecstasy (1978) and Sexual Secrets, the Alchemy of Ecstasy (1979).
During the 1980 and early ‘90s Sliger lived in the Caribbean and focused her art on recreating the Arawak peoples who originally inhabited the islands. The over 100 painting and pastels she produced are featured in her video Visions of the Arawaks (1993). In 1994 she moved to Northern California and produced events, videos, music and collage dedicated to the Divine Feminine. In 2010 she published online The 64 Dakini Oracle featuring digital collages of divine feminine archetypes .
After the Visionary period, she has returned to her artistic roots and is using herself as her own muse during this later phase of her life to confront the next feminist bastion of agism. She continues to work in film, digital collage and 3 dimensional assemblage.
In 2009 her work featured in Angels of Anarchy, a major exhibition of female Surrealist artists (Manchester Art Museum) and in The Dark Monarch (Tate Gallery).
Slinger's work has since been in many group exhibitions internationally, including Lips Painted Red, Trondheim Kunstmuseum (Norway, 2013); History Is Now, Hayward Gallery (London, 2015); Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s, Verbund collection (Vienna, 2016); Virginia Woolf: An Exhibition Inspired by her Writings, Tate St Ives (St Ives, 2017); Dreamers Awake, White Cube Gallery (London); Women House, Musée de la Monnaie (Paris, 2017) and National Museum in the Arts (Washington D.C.); The Beguiling Siren is Thy Crest, The Museum of Modern Art (Warsaw, 2017) and Room, Sadie Coles (London, 2017); Visible Women, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery (Norwich, 2018); The Hired Grievers, Galeria Madragoa (Lisbon); The House of Fame, convened by Linder, Nottingham Contemporary (Nottingham, 2018); Worship of Sticks and Stones, Anat Ebgi (L.A., 2018) and Paris Photo, Richard Saltoun Gallery, Grand Palais (Paris, 2018).
Her recent solo exhibits include: Exorcism Revisited at Broadway 1602 Gallery (NY, 2012); Hear What I Say at Riflemaker Gallery (London); Penny Slinger at Blum and Poe (L.A., 2014 and Tokyo, 2015) and Inside Out at Fortnight Institute (NY, 2019).
A documentary by Richard Kovitch on Penny's early life and work entitled Penny Slinger, Out of the Shadows was premiered at London's Raindance Film Festival in 2017, Newport Beach Film Festival 2018 and Anthology Film Archives in New York, 2019.
Penny Slinger lives and works in L.A. (USA).
This work was included in Young and Fantastic exhibition at the ICA (London) in 1969. She went on to have her own solo exhibitions at Angela Flowers Gallery (London) in 1971 and Opening in 1973. These exhibitions included her photographic collage works and her 3 dimensional ‘Headboxes’ and ‘Tabletops’. The modality of this period has been referred to as Feminist Surrealism.
In 1969 Slinger met filmmaker Peter Whitehead and filmed Lilford Hall in preparation for a feature movie that was never realized. In 1971 She helped establish the all-woman theater troupe Holocaust and performed in the film that emerged The Other Side of the Underneath (Director Jane Arden, 1973). During the 1970s she produced a self expose collage series, published in 1977 as An Exorcism. Set in a deserted mansion house in the English countryside (Lilford Hall) it employs the tools of surrealism to explore the feminine psyche. In this period she also discovered Tantric Art and embarked on a deep study and immersion in the philosophy of Tantra. This resulted in the publication of The Secret Dakini Oracle (1977/79), Mountain Ecstasy (1978) and Sexual Secrets, the Alchemy of Ecstasy (1979).
During the 1980 and early ‘90s Sliger lived in the Caribbean and focused her art on recreating the Arawak peoples who originally inhabited the islands. The over 100 painting and pastels she produced are featured in her video Visions of the Arawaks (1993). In 1994 she moved to Northern California and produced events, videos, music and collage dedicated to the Divine Feminine. In 2010 she published online The 64 Dakini Oracle featuring digital collages of divine feminine archetypes .
After the Visionary period, she has returned to her artistic roots and is using herself as her own muse during this later phase of her life to confront the next feminist bastion of agism. She continues to work in film, digital collage and 3 dimensional assemblage.
In 2009 her work featured in Angels of Anarchy, a major exhibition of female Surrealist artists (Manchester Art Museum) and in The Dark Monarch (Tate Gallery).
Slinger's work has since been in many group exhibitions internationally, including Lips Painted Red, Trondheim Kunstmuseum (Norway, 2013); History Is Now, Hayward Gallery (London, 2015); Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s, Verbund collection (Vienna, 2016); Virginia Woolf: An Exhibition Inspired by her Writings, Tate St Ives (St Ives, 2017); Dreamers Awake, White Cube Gallery (London); Women House, Musée de la Monnaie (Paris, 2017) and National Museum in the Arts (Washington D.C.); The Beguiling Siren is Thy Crest, The Museum of Modern Art (Warsaw, 2017) and Room, Sadie Coles (London, 2017); Visible Women, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery (Norwich, 2018); The Hired Grievers, Galeria Madragoa (Lisbon); The House of Fame, convened by Linder, Nottingham Contemporary (Nottingham, 2018); Worship of Sticks and Stones, Anat Ebgi (L.A., 2018) and Paris Photo, Richard Saltoun Gallery, Grand Palais (Paris, 2018).
Her recent solo exhibits include: Exorcism Revisited at Broadway 1602 Gallery (NY, 2012); Hear What I Say at Riflemaker Gallery (London); Penny Slinger at Blum and Poe (L.A., 2014 and Tokyo, 2015) and Inside Out at Fortnight Institute (NY, 2019).
A documentary by Richard Kovitch on Penny's early life and work entitled Penny Slinger, Out of the Shadows was premiered at London's Raindance Film Festival in 2017, Newport Beach Film Festival 2018 and Anthology Film Archives in New York, 2019.
Penny Slinger lives and works in L.A. (USA).