Tom of Fland (born Tuoko Laaksonen, 1920–1991), was an inic and ground-breakg artist who rose to cult stat the ternatnal queer muny and beyond for his work celebratg the male figure and masculy durg a time when beg homosexual was taboo. “Although he never attend a march or waved a banner at a monstratn, the send half of the 20th century no one did more for the furtherg of gay pri than Tom did,” said F. Valente Hooven, III.
Contents:
- THERE'S A GAY PORNO STASHED IN YOUR WARDROBE: THE HISTORY BEHD PRI 2020'S BT COLLAB
- TOM OF FLAND EXHIB CELEBRAT NORDIC COUNTRY'S GAY IN
- TOM OF FLAND: FROM GAY IN TO MASTREAM SENSATN
- 'UNASHAMEDLY GAY': TOM OF FLAND'S BULGG BEEFKE DRAWGS UNVEILED LONDON
- TOM OF FINLAND – THE OFFICIAL LIFE AND WORK OF A GAY HERO
- TOM OF FLAND REVIEW – TRIGUG BPIC OF A GAY LIBERATN HERO
- TOM OF FLAND EXHIB CELEBRAT NORDIC UNTRY'S GAY IN
THERE'S A GAY PORNO STASHED IN YOUR WARDROBE: THE HISTORY BEHD PRI 2020'S BT COLLAB
100 Hero: Tom of Fland. The gay man who created art that helped shape queer inty and sire. * tom finland gay *
In 2013, the artist’s work was clud a two-person exhibn wh the gay erotic art trailblazer — and, as happens, the origator of Laaksonen’s famo psdonym — Bob Mizer at the Mm of Contemporary Art, Los Angel. Even Laaksonen’s home untry and namake, which homosexualy was crimalized until 1971, has e around to the artist’s importance: In 2014, ma a seri of stamps honorg Tom of Fland, and a succsful 2017 bpic was produced the by Brian Forrt. In the early 1960s, the pneerg, boundary-phg gay artist Robert Mapplethorpe, acrdg to Patti Smh, disvered Tom of Fland’s work a ed bookstall Tim Square.
”T talked to a wi range of artists about Tom of Fland’s fluence for what would have been his 100th by Anrs Sune Berg Elmgreen & Dragset, Berl-based artist duoTom of Fland’s art is unabashedly gay and celebratory of a subculture and sexual ruals that were nsired perverse when his drawgs first appeared public. And I thk, siarly, perhaps when Tom of Fland was fg this inic style, he really took ownership over his fn of what was to be a homosexual, which was perhaps, at that time, a term that was viewed as weak or rogatory.
Tom of Fland’s ft pencil work and the immediate eroticism are enough to make any young gay boy a quick fan, but after a of lookg at his drawgs, I unrstand that his work transcends pornography and occupi a space of queer spirualy. I me for the giant phall and stayed for the joy of beg a gay person.
TOM OF FLAND EXHIB CELEBRAT NORDIC COUNTRY'S GAY IN
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 finland gay *
Tom’s drawgs are unapologetilly happy and have not a shred of shame them — an credible rary any pictn of homosexualy, even now.
Tom had the fortu of spir to celebrate men at play at a time when most of the world nsired gay people to be an abomatn. Tom had such an abundance of radil self-acceptance that his work ntu to impart the spir of self-love onto gay men everywhere.
TOM OF FLAND: FROM GAY IN TO MASTREAM SENSATN
HELSINKI (AP) — A new exhibn showg the works of Too Laaksonen, better known by his psdonym Tom of Fland, adds a personal touch to the late Fnish artist whose homoerotic drawgs of mcular men gaed a followg the gay muny om the 1950s. * tom finland gay *
-based wrer and artistWe kd of take Tom of Fland for granted, bee, let’s be hont, as gay men, do we really need any more imag of super mcular whe dus?
Before Tom, the homosexual stereotype was a narrowly limed negative one. 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.
'UNASHAMEDLY GAY': TOM OF FLAND'S BULGG BEEFKE DRAWGS UNVEILED LONDON
Long inic and even formative for Amerin gay society, Tom's well-endowed and sexually charged imagery is now htg the global mastream. * tom finland gay *
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.
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 FINLAND – THE OFFICIAL LIFE AND WORK OF A GAY HERO
After a bpic about the famo gay Fnish artist premiered this weekend, a look at why his art still ptivat the world. * tom finland gay *
For Laaksonen is more famo by his pen name, a psdonym that me to fe several strands of gay culture before paddlg the mastream: Tom Of recently, was Brish signer JW Anrson's turn to re-home Fland's landmark work to a limed edn llectn to ci wh Pri (another ever-important event placed on ice by Covid-19), and a very important birthday (Tom would've been 100 this year). The are piec plucked om the rnal g when Pri began as a rt rponse to police raids of the gay-iendly Stonewall Inn. "Even as nversatns about sexualy and homosexualy were expandg the prs, gay materials only circulated on the g the mid-twentieth century.
Most mastream discsn of homosexualy prented men as perverts or crimals; at bt, they were sad victims, " says Dr Jt Bengry, a history lecturer at London's Goldsmhs, and urse nvenor of the universy's Queer History MA programme. "Men who wanted to fd gay materials uld do so pulp novels and unr-the-unter magaz, but none of this was mastream. However, the kds of physique magaz where Tom Of Fland's art was published had a wi distributn among gay men, surpassg by far the reach of activist publitns.
TOM OF FLAND REVIEW – TRIGUG BPIC OF A GAY LIBERATN HERO
* tom finland gay *
JW Anrson’s Tom Of Fland keyrg (left) and CDLP x Tom Of Fland Tanga BriefTom Of Fland Foundatn, CDLPWhat's more, Tom Of Fland's klg for the hyper-mascule helped shape gay men's perceptns of self, and those around them.
TOM OF FLAND EXHIB CELEBRAT NORDIC UNTRY'S GAY IN
Pekka Strang stars as the Fnish wartime artist Too Laaksonen, whose homoerotic illtratns helped create the inography of gay culture * tom finland gay *
"The image of gay men that domated mastream reprentatn at this time was the 'pansy' or the 'sissy', " says Bengry. Tom Of Fland's art showed that men who sired other men uld be mascule, virile, and powerful – a rponse to a culture that so often told gay men they uld never be 'real men'.
Mcl are so big that chts prove almost Olympian, mythologil meatheads that openly and unashamedly dulge behavur that was only whispered about, keen to enjoy the palpable homoeroticism felt by men who spent months and months together isolatn. Barely-there briefs were plucked straight om the monochrome sketch of a textbook Tom Of Flanr, addn to jockstraps (a staple of gay pornography wh roots all-male sport).
Of urse, certa artefacts are still largely shackled to parts of gay cultur: black leather biker ps, for example, and police shirts so tight they pose an occupatnal hazard. Homosexualy was still classed as a mental illns until 1981 Fland.