Benjamin Slinger

Lives and works in London, UK

Artist statement

Benjamin Slinger is a Northern-born visual artist whose interdisciplinary practice unravels social, economic, and cultural systems through the lens of semiotics and material histories. Their work engages with the embedded dogma within cultural artefacts, drawing attention to the subtle mechanisms of power and meaning production. Science fiction and fantasy function not only as aesthetic reference points but as methodological tools, frameworks through which mass culture, the ascendancy of populism, and class stratification in popular media are explored and deconstructed. These speculative genres offer a productive space for reimagining cultural narratives and ideological formations without defaulting to a clean resolution or didacticism. Design histories and cultural artefacts are situated as active agents within this inquiry, revealing the ways in which they interface with hegemonic structures and ideological discourses. Rather than treating objects as static, Slinger’s work foregrounds their performativity and the semiotic charge they carry within specific historical and material contexts often in a manner that overloads and drowns an objects immediate presence. Through sculpture, painting, and writing, Slinger examines the social implications of materiality, exposing biases of both the authorial and institutional that underpin the production and reception of art. Their practice ultimately invites a reconsideration of the cultural logics that shape visibility, value, and...

Artwork

• George Bush, 2026. 1992 George H. W. Bush election T-shirt, vinyl, stretcher.
• Awe I–XV, 2026. Desert Storm/Desert Storm Pro Set trading cards, Defence Intelligence Agency playing cards, beech dowel, nylon fletching cord, ABS nock, stain, vinyl, transfer scale model decals.
• Wassily Kandinsky, Jane Birkin, Nicolas Ghesquière, 2026. Distressed 1970s Marcel Breuer ‘Wassily’ chairs, Desert Storm bomber jacket, hook, Lehman Brothers cap, goat hide rug. Leather bag, Gulf War/Iraq War/Afghanistan War-era trinkets. Leather bag, Desert Storm/Iraq War patches, Desert Storm T-shirt, wooden beads, custom beadwork F-15 fighter jet.
• Jean Prouvé, 2026. Jean Prouvé ‘Standard’ chairs, Financial Times mug, Spitting image character mug, coiled cable, ‘Conceptual Art’ by Tony Godfrey stolen from Leeds College of Art, Issue 0, 2 Frieze Magazine, Issue 3, 43, 51, Text Zur Kunste Architectural digest magazine AD100 1991, Speaker stand, Pine. 2026
• Jib Door, 2026. Birch, pine, gloss paint, satin paint, matte paint, brass door viewer, brass hinges, brass escutcheon, wool carpet, antique gilt plaster cast frame, watercolour on paper, LED strip light, tub chair, ‘World of Interiors’ magazines various 1990- 2006.
• Auspicious Alternatives , 2025. Polyester, ABS
• 08/20/89 - 03/11/90, 2025. Cardboard, Paper, Matte vinyl, Tulip wood, Low reflective glass
• Shotgun Marriage Between Postmodernist Revisionism and the Law I & II, 2025. Alpi Ettore Sotsass veneer, Tulip wood, Instax mini print, Business card
• The gift of an Android from Max to Henry, 2025. Ikea Malm cabinet, Rope, Pulley, Carabiner, Resin, Model paint, Silk lampshade, Wooden Lamp, Cleat hook.
• Enchanted, Well Lit, Aspirational Dungeon - FT, 2023. ‘Financial Times’ mug, polymer, shirt, cufflink, acrylic paint, varnish, flame shaped LED bulb.
• Enchanted, Well Lit, Aspirational Dungeon - NY Times Guggenheim, 2023. Hand formed aluminium, ‘NY Times’ mug, polymer, shirt, acrylic paint, varnish, flame shaped LED bulb.
• Enchanted, Well Lit, Aspirational Dungeon - Reagan Bush, 2023. Reagan 1981 campaign mug, polymer, shirt, acrylic paint, varnish, flame shaped LED bulb
• Enchanted, Well Lit, Aspirational Dungeon - Thatcher, 2023. Hand formed aluminium, ‘Spitting Image’ mug, polymer, shirt, pewter cufflink, acrylic paint, varnish, flame shaped LED bulb
• The Dick Cheney Incident/Constitution Modifier For Being Proud , 2023. Bush/Cheney inauguration t-shirt, ghilley suit head gear, shirt, trousers, shoes, steel poleyn, novelty ‘monster’ gloves, arrow.
• Illusory Flat Oval 2009/Magical Protective Doorway, 2023. MDF, pine, pine moulding, semi gloss wood paint, eggshell emulsion, silk emulsion, brass fixings.
• The Onion Buster, 2023. Cast pewter, oak, steel
• PATCO Guillotine Reversal/Elven Martyr , 2023. 18 Frame lenticular print, stained beech.
• May the Civilisations I Burn Light the Way/Window Cypher , 2023. Stained timber, vinyl, sign track, sign fixings, stained beech, ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ trading cards, ‘Decision’ trading cards, ‘Panini Americana Heroes & Legends’ trading cards, ‘Starline Americana’ trading cards, ‘Topps Enduring Freedom’ training cards.
• Window Cypher III, 2023. Stained beech, ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ trading cards, ‘Decision’ trading cards, ‘Panini Americana Heroes & Legends’ trading cards, ‘Starline Americana’ trading cards, ‘Topps Enduring Freedom’ training cards.
• Window Cypher II , 2023. Stained beech, ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ trading cards, ‘Decision’ trading cards, ‘Panini Americana Heroes & Legends’ trading cards, ‘Starline Americana’ trading cards, ‘Topps Enduring Freedom’ training cards.
• A Meeting of Cuckoldry at Worms , 2022. Lead, steel, petroleum tape, hand truck
• The City on the Edge of Forever, 2022. PVC tube, Light fittings, Original 1979 McDonalds Star Trek Happy Meal boxes, Polyethylene water container
• A Sad Laugh for a Hard Discussion on Why You Are Wrong, 2022. Acrylic, Canvas, Pine.
• The Years Will Stretch Their Hands, 2020. 2 colour woven blanket
• Before the Birds Made Nests, 2020. Partially bevel cut official ‘The Lord of the Rings’ jigsaw puzzle, Page from ‘The Miners' Strike 1984-85 in Pictures.