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 of Fland — Bold Journey,” opens Friday at the Mm of Contemporary Art Kiasma Helski. It featur Laaksonen’s drawgs, archive material, clothg as well as memorabilia, letters, and films. Laaksonen’s cheerful, sexually explic works ma an impact at a time when homosexualy was illegal or classified as a disease untri around the world, cludg his native Fland. The Nordic untry has sce embraced the artist, who died 1991, as a natnal in.
Contents:
- TOM OF FLAND’S HYPERMASCULE GAY IMAG ‘THE PLEASURE OF PLAY’
- INTERVIEW-THROUGH HOMOEROTIC ART, TOM OF FLAND PAVED WAY FOR TODAY'S GAY PRI
- "GAY"/ FE ART PRTS ▼
- TOM OF FLAND EXHIB CELEBRAT NORDIC UNTRY’S GAY IN
TOM OF FLAND’S HYPERMASCULE GAY IMAG ‘THE PLEASURE OF PLAY’
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. * finland gay art *
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. Tom of Fland’s art beme an inic part of the gay visual vobulary durg s time. Homosexualy was illegal Fland until 1971.
“Tom of Fland’s bodi are gog to be somethg that really also om the postwar era, the need to bat the ia of effemacy of homosexualy, ” says Dr. The ia of the homosexual before the 1950s was only a highly effemate one. While some gay men were (and rema) proudly effemate, others wanted to be gay on their own terms, whout havg their inty prcribed to them.
In dog so, he created a visual language for gay men that had prevly been publicly unavailable to them, one where s actors were permted to be mascule, happy and sexually domant. “It then creat a siar kd of gatekeepg on the straight male that was hherto enclosed on the gay male. ” It also creat the possibily of straight men aspirg to what Tom of Fland shows as homosexual prentatn.
INTERVIEW-THROUGH HOMOEROTIC ART, TOM OF FLAND PAVED WAY FOR TODAY'S GAY PRI
100 Hero: Tom of Fland. The gay man who created art that helped shape queer inty and sire. * finland gay art *
“He creat this proxy gay universe … a gay Olymp. Tom of Fland had ma his way to the Amerin visual market 1957, wh drawgs and on the ver of Physique Pictorial, a homoerotic magaze that displayed nu bodybuilrs unr the guise of athletic molg to avoid obsceny implitns.
The “Tom of Fland” look — boots, leather, mtach, tight jeans — beme vibrant the gay muny and eventually crossed over to the mastream via the artists spired. Tom of Fland, perhaps the most inic creator of erotic gay art, unrstood his role as a liberator.
From a distance, then, he was keepg pace wh Amerin gay liberatn and cultural shifts. When he arrived California 1977, was no surprise that he was immediately embraced by a muny who viewed him as paragon of gay pri. The stereotype of a domant and submissive partner assumed of a both a male/female and gay relatnships was not one he subscribed to.
"GAY"/ FE ART PRTS ▼
After a bpic about the famo gay Fnish artist premiered this weekend, a look at why his art still ptivat the world. * finland gay art *
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. 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.
TOM OF FLAND EXHIB CELEBRAT NORDIC UNTRY’S GAY IN
Available for viewg and acquisn: gay art drawgs, gay art patgs, and gay art photographs by ternatnally acclaimed artists. * finland gay art *
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. As he nonted the stigmas and stereotyp that long burned homosexual sire, his pictns of empowered gay men fully enjoyg their sexualy proved liberatg on social and athetic levels alike.
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. Elska, the up-and-g seri of gay photography and culture bookaz, has ma s latt edn Helski, pal of Fland and world's northernmost metropolis.
My Gay Eye is a 400-page anthology that celebrat queer sexualy. * finland gay art *
Known for s hont portrayal of diverse gay, queer, and allied men, a newt edn Elska sh a light on the people of what is perhaps the most unr-disvered Nordic pal.
Art & Dign|Tom of Fland’s Hypermascule Gay Imag ‘The Pleasure of Play’ ADVERTISEMENTArt of Fland Foundatn, Permanent CollectnJuly 23, 2015For several s, begng the 1950s, Too Laaksonen, a rporate advertisg signer based Helski, moonlighted as a pornographic draftsman named Tom of Fland.
The actn uld get rough, but the drawg was always smooth — fe-led, subtly shad — and the fac of the participants almost variably work, wily circulated prted formats, has been exhibed sporadilly New York galleri, but never the quanty, or wh the historil perspective, afford by the current two-se Artists Space show, spl between a survey of almost 200 drawgs at 38 Greene Street and a display of supplementary material (mostly llag) at 55 Walker Laaksonen, who died 1991, was forthright about his reasons for makg his work: In addn to givg exprsn to his personal fantasi, he wanted to produce an image of gay men that unteracted the atmosphere of opprsn and the stereotyp of effemacy he had grown up wh. And the work looks tertgly very notn that there uld, or should, be a gay male ial feels old. My Gay Eye is a 400-page anthology of 120 queer artists om around the world who were fluenced by Tom of Fland.