Inic gay artist Tom of Fland was an early fighter for LGBT+ rights, preparg a generatn of gay men the 1940s and '50s to bee activists who would fight for equaly a later, the founr of the illtrator's foundatn said on Thursday.
Contents:
- THROUGH HOMOEROTIC ART, TOM OF FLAND PAVED WAY FOR TODAY'S GAY PRI
- THE GAY FIGURE ARTISTS ARE REIMAGG THE MALE GAZE
- LEGENDARY QUEER ARTIST TOM OF FLAND’S HOE NURTUR GAY ARTISTS
- NEW TOM OF FLAND SKETCHBOOK GO EP TO THE GAY ARTIST’S PROCS
- 'UNASHAMEDLY GAY': TOM OF FLAND'S BULGG BEEFKE DRAWGS UNVEILED LONDON
THROUGH HOMOEROTIC ART, TOM OF FLAND PAVED WAY FOR TODAY'S GAY PRI
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.
THE GAY FIGURE ARTISTS ARE REIMAGG THE MALE GAZE
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’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.
LEGENDARY QUEER ARTIST TOM OF FLAND’S HOE NURTUR GAY ARTISTS
Tom had such an abundance of radil self-acceptance that his work ntu to impart the spir of self-love onto gay men everywhere. -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. KENDAL, England (Thomson Rters Foundatn) - Inic gay artist Tom of Fland was an early fighter for LGBT+ rights, preparg a generatn of gay men the 1940s and ‘50s to bee activists who would fight for equaly a later, the founr of the illtrator’s foundatn said on PHOTO: The rabow flag, monly known as the gay pri flag or LGBT pri flag, is seen durg the first Gay Pri para Skopje, North Macedonia June 29, 2019.
REUTERS/Ognen TeofilovskiTom’s imag of burly, leather-clad motached mcle men marked a “radil shift” om the then-prevailg ia of gay men as limp-wristed fops hidg the shadows, said Durk Dehner, who set up the Tom of Fland Foundatn wh the artist 1984. “He was the forenner of gettg prepared to be gay liberatnists, ” Dehner told the Thomson Rters Foundatn on Thursday of the artist whose real name was Too Laaksonen.
NEW TOM OF FLAND SKETCHBOOK GO EP TO THE GAY ARTIST’S PROCS
Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, also known for the graphilly homoerotic nature of his work, was an early supporter. “Prr to that we had been g gay or alternative galleri. ”SPIRITUAL MATTERSThe language of transcenntal medatn still rms much of Dehner’s speech, wh talk movg om sex and the leather athetic to more spirual matters and personal, who worked as a male mol, was photographed by star photographer Bce Weber and won accs to “the sort of ele gays” 1970s and ‘80s New York.
'UNASHAMEDLY GAY': TOM OF FLAND'S BULGG BEEFKE DRAWGS UNVEILED LONDON
”Tom of Fland’s work, often pictg explic gay sex, has not been whout ntroversy over the years, notably over his e of Nazi imagery and Cross Lane Projects, which curated the exhibn wh the foundatn as part of the Lak Internatnal Comic Art Ftival, said they had received jt one plat sce the late September, Tom’s work is highly sought after, gracg the walls of New York’s Mm of Morn Art and the Mm of Contemporary Art the Fnish pal, Dehner supports up-and-g LGBT+ artists through the foundatn, offerg assistance and even acmodatn at Tom’s Hoe Los Angel, where the artist lived and worked alongsi a new generatn seeks out his work, Dehner said Tom’s legacy as an artist is assured.
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.