1978, Cover of 'Mountain Ecstasy' (with Nik Douglas) published by Dragon's Dream, Holland. 64 full-color collages and poetry.
'Mountain Ecstasy' was my celebration of Tantric alchemy, freed from any restrictions, out of the confines of the house ('An Exorcism') and into the wide-open Technicolor landscapes of the high Himalayas. I never really thought of the collages as being material for a book - as they were rather outrageous - but Dragon's Dream wanted to publish. Whereas 'An Exorcism' had been mostly my own photographs, the images for 'Mountain Ecstasy' were nearly all 'objects trouves'. I had traveled for the first time in exotic parts (India, Nepal, Thailand) and the work reflects this input.
Thousands of copies of 'Mountain Ecstasy' were subsequently seized and burnt by British customs, my comment at the time was, "They thought it was pornography, they didn't realize it was its antidote".
"Magnificant erotic assemblages of nudes, flowers, masks and rocks against landscapes, they tease, they excite and they dazzle the eye and in the end the sheer voluptuous beauty of these erotic montages finally exist in their own right as works of art and nary a bullet or a bomb in them." Arthur Moyse, Freedom Anarchist Review.
"Full of disturbingly erotic metaphysical and magical realities." Molly Parkin Review, Molly's Compulsive Reading.
"The titles suggest that physical and sexual awareness is the path towards mystical experience and more intense spiritual awareness." Arts Review, 1977.
"With all the fun being dragged out of sex by books like the Hite Report, collage artist Penny Slinger's sensitive and subtle view of eroticism in women comes as a welcome relief…and Penny's pictures are certainly more memorable than the centerfold of Playboy." Danae Brook, Evening News, 1977.
"An interesting and unique book on Tantra. The illustrations are all color collages, intended to awaken experiences in the viewer. The authors have opened new vistas to the modern student." Gnostica,1979.
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