Penny Slinger

Born England
Nationality American
Alma mater Chelsea College of Arts[1]
Style Sexual mysticism[2]
Movement Feminist surrealism[3]
Spouse(s) Christopher Hills

Penny Slinger, sometimes Penelope Slinger,[4] is a British-born American author and artist based in Los Angeles. As an artist, she has worked in different mediums,[1] including photography and film and sculpture, and her work has been described as being in the genre of feminist surrealism.[5][6][7]

Slinger studied at the Chelsea College of Arts in London.[1] She completed her degree in 1969.[8] Slinger focused on surrealism in the 1960s and the 1970s to "plumb the depths of the feminine psyche and subconscious," according to a review in ArtDaily magazine.[1] She wrote and illustrated numerous publications.[1] She staged photographs, sometimes using her own body, to create "hauntingly surreal collages" for a series which she titled An Exorcism.[1] She photographed herself naked to explore ideas relating to dreams, desire, sex, female liberation, surrealism and memory, according to a review in Aesthetica magazine.[8] During an extended diet, she photographed her body as it changed through the dieting.[8] Some of her art focused on the Arawak peoples of South America and the Caribbean.[9]

Reviewer Kate Galloway in The Guardian described her work as a "grotesque and militant contribution" with a "loud message about silence."[10] As an author, with Nik Douglas, her book Sexual Secrets sold 100,000 copies,[11] and sold over a million copies in 19 translations. In 1977 she published "The Secret Dakini Oracle", a deck of cards for divination. With Douglas and Bhaskar Bhattacharya, she wrote The Path of the Mystic Lover - Baul Songs of Passion and Ecstasy in 1993, and provided 84 drawings for it. Slinger's work was part of the Angels of Anarchy exhibit at the Manchester Art Gallery in 2009.[10]

Personal life

Slinger was married to microbiologist Christopher Hills, the co-discoverer of the protein-rich plankton spirulina and co-founder of the University of the Trees in Boulder Creek, California. Hills died in 1997 at age 70.[12]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Liz Gangemi, April 19, 2014, Art Daily, British-born artist Penny Slinger's first solo exhibition in Los Angeles opens at Blum & Poe, Retrieved Sept. 9, 2014, "...Penny Slinger, The Surprised Tin Opener, 1969/2014. C-print...."
  2. ↑ Fan Zhong, April 24, 2014, W Magazine, Penny Slinger’s Journey, Retrieved Sept. 21, 2014, "...British artist Penny Slinger’s brand of sexual mysticism first ripened in swinging London during the ’60s..."
  3. ↑ BOUDICCA FOX-LEONARD, 23.08.2011, Twin Factory, FANTASY WOMAN, Retrieved Sept. 21, 2014, "... her photographic collages .... Slinger used Surrealism to penetrate the feminine psyche..."
  4. ↑ Penny Slinger website
  5. ↑ CHRIS DARKE, 30 August 1998, The Independent, Decline and falconry, Retrieved Sept. 7, 2014, "... Liaisons and working partnerships with sculptors Penny Slinger ..."
  6. ↑ HOLLAND COTTER, September 13, 2012, The New York Times, Penny Slinger: ‘An Exorcism Revisited, 1977-2012’, Retrieved Sept. 7, 2014, "...Born in England, Penny Slinger emerged from art school in 1969, ... Slinger has always pointed to European Surrealism as an influence,... worked in many mediums over the years, including sculpture and stage design..."
  7. ↑ October 4, 2012, Museum and Gallery Listings for Oct. 5-11, The New York Times, Penny Slinger: ‘An Exorcism Revisited’ , Retrieved Sept. 7, 2014, "...The main piece is her still unpublished book of photo-collages and texts called “An Exorcism.”..."
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Niamh Coghlan, 1 August 2012, Aesthetica magazine, Surrealist Explorations: A rediscovery of the feminist artist penelope slinger presents a timely reappraisal of her work for the first time in nearly 40 years, Retrieved Sept. 9, 2014, "...Slinger studied in London....."
  9. ↑ 1994, The New York Times, Visions of the Arawaks (1994), Retrieved Sept. 7, 2014, "...Artist Penny Slinger depicts Arawak culture in daily life, ceremonial rituals, body art, and dream landscapes. ..."
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Kate Kellaway of The Observer, 26 September 2009, The Guardian, Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism, Retrieved Sept. 7, 2014, "...In Penny Slinger's grotesque and militant contribution...."
  11. ↑ D.J.R. Bruckner, July 31, 1983, The New York Times, READING AND WRITING, Retrieved Sept. 7, 2014, "...A few years ago he issued Sexual Secrets: the Alchemy of Ecstasy by Nik Douglas and Penny Slinger which is in its 13th printing and has sold 100,000 copies. ..."
  12. ↑ "Christopher Hills Jr.; Natural Foods Pioneer, Microbiologist". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles: Los Angeles Times). February 10, 1997. Retrieved 15 January 2010.

External links