100 Hero: Tom of Fland. The gay man who created art that helped shape queer inty and sire.
Contents:
- 'UNASHAMEDLY GAY': TOM OF FLAND'S BULGG BEEFKE DRAWGS UNVEILED LONDON
- NEW TOM OF FLAND SKETCHBOOK GO EP TO THE GAY ARTIST’S PROCS
- TOM OF FLAND’S HYPERMASCULE GAY IMAG ‘THE PLEASURE OF PLAY’
'UNASHAMEDLY GAY': TOM OF FLAND'S BULGG BEEFKE DRAWGS UNVEILED LONDON
* tom gay drawings *
Eded by thor, art aler, and llector Juerg Jud and German art cric and wrer Pay Matthis Karstens jt time for Pri, the book has the look and feel of a Too Laaksonen (1920-1991), Tom revolutnized not jt the pictn of gay men wh his highly stylized and hypersexualized imagery but also the way they were perceived society and how they perceived themselv. The masterful renrgs of virile men engrossed acts of homoerotic sire n be approached along several terpretative l—art historil, social, technil—but each of them pots to the revolutnary nature of his project.
A master draftsman, whose passn for both his medium and his subject matter enabled him to bee a powerful cultural force, Tom gave form to an imagative universe that turn helped fuel real-world liberatn movements and enabled gay men to accs their strength new ways. In his heroic homoerotic drawgs – starrg hyper-mascule hunks, clad uniforms or leather gear, all bulgg mcl and members – he fearlsly nonted a system that nied eedom, legaly, and basic rights to the gay muny. Among the photographs are portras of iends and partners – cludg those Tom of Fland and Robert Mapplethorpe took of each other – that were nfed to his home stud and darkroom for years, wh much of the rrponnce between the artist and his subjects stroyed due to the illegaly of homosexualy at the time.
Tom of Fland Permanent Collectn(Image cred: Marko MacPherson)‘Beg aware of what society had nied homosexuals, Tom went about creatg the archetype of mascule homosexuals who participate eely together sex – a cree om Nature herself, says Durk Dehner, print and -founr of the Tom of Fland Foundatn, created 1984. The gay man who created art that helped shape queer inty and sire. Tom of Fland is the psdonym of artist Too Laaksonen – an erotic illtrator om of Fland’s work as an artist was stmental shapg 20th-century gay culture – his impact is still beg felt today.
NEW TOM OF FLAND SKETCHBOOK GO EP TO THE GAY ARTIST’S PROCS
Tom of Fland, perhaps the most inic creator of erotic gay art, unrstood his role as a liberator. His imag of men unleashg their ept fantasi have provid an outlet for self-intifitn and tablished a visual inography of eroticism. * tom gay drawings *
Laaksonen viewed his homosexualy as a non-issue, and wanted to normalise for everyone else his muny at a time when beg gay was lerally a crime.
“In those days, a gay man was ma to feel nothg but shame about his feelgs and his sexualy. I wanted my drawgs to unteract that, to show gay men beg happy and posive about who they were…” Tom explaed, before he died 1991 om an emphysema-duced stroke.
”The men drawn by Tom of Fland were pretty much the first sex-posive morn art figur pictg gay men – strappg beefk, wh bulgg mcl, big boots, a visor hat and leather, or a mixture of civilian cloth uniforms – everythg about them is big and unapologetilly 1973, Laaksonen had given up his job advertisg so that he uld vote himself to his art landmark 1962 Supreme Court se MANual Enterpris, Inc. At the vatn of Durk Dehner, a gay bsman, film director and publisher.
TOM OF FLAND’S HYPERMASCULE GAY IMAG ‘THE PLEASURE OF PLAY’
PLEASE DO NOT SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW THESE DRAWINGS IF YOU ARE LIKELY TO BE OFFENDED BY IMAGES OF HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVITY. But always he had a secret sile illtratg stori Amerin gay magaz. Many of them posss a distctly homoerotic flavour and mt have given great pleasure to many young stunts durg their studi.
Tom is known for his highly homoerotic pictns of hyper-mascule men cked out biker leather gear who spired and aroed a generatn of gay men wh their bulgg mcl and juttg jawl. ” The undisvered, unashamedly gay imag clu some Matisse-spired piec datg om 1978 and a work pictg an terracial uple that uld not be shown the US.
“Tom elevated the self-teem of homosexuals.