Penny Slinger: Exorcism: Inside Out, Richard Saltoun Gallery review

I generally don’t like the label of ‘feminist art’. But that doesn’t mean I don’t seek out art by women. In general, I’m rather discouraged by Tate exhibitions on the subject these days, as I find them too mired in anxious polemics. But if you prefer a healthy dose of wit to your feminist art, the Richard Saltoun Gallery, a tidy space in the heart of Mayfair, is the place to be. The exhibitions and curation at Richard Saltoun focus on works by female artists from the 1960s with a penchant for conceptual and performance pieces, and exude contemporary relevance. The current exhibition, ‘Penny Slinger: Exorcism: Inside Out’, is one of them. Now, in its final few weeks, there’s still time to see it.

“For me, collage means bringing parts of reality into a new reality, shaking up the everyday world and giving access to the inner world of fantasies and dreams,” says the Los Angeles-based English artist about her chosen medium. There is indeed a subversive humor in Penny Slinger’s work, and the fact that she tended to upset the establishment when she first produced her collections in the mid-1970s (one of her books was burned by customs officials) only reinforces this.

The exhibition at the Richard Saltoun Gallery marks the new edition of Slinger’s book, An Exorcism: A Photo Romancean expanded version of an earlier edition that was banned in the UK when it was first published in 1977. Now, nearly 50 years later, this installation’s immersive staging clearly underlines the series’ performative roots.