“AllTogether” | Héctor Silva, Hiroshi Shimoyama, Jay Jorgensen and Jean Ferrero

AllTogether features artists from the Tom of Finland Foundation collections.

HÉCTOR SILVA (B. 1955, Mexican)
Hector Silva is a self-taught artist who has been producing work for more than twenty-five years. With Los Angeles’ rich Latino and Chicano culture, Hector draws from the Latino tradition, exploring themes of cultural identities, eroticism, and beauty. In 1997, Silva was a Tom of Finland Emerging Artist Competition winner, and in 2018 was inducted into Tom of Finland Foundation’s Artist Hall of Fame. Silva lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

“If no one’s trying to censor you, then you’re probably not doing anything that important.  I explore themes of cultural identity, because as Latinos, we are often erased from the social portrait. and then when you add been queer to that, we can really disappear. But I also think that the “positive image” strategy can be a trap, and as an artist, I feel responsible for showing art that is not only beautiful but truthful.” – HS

HIROSHI SHIMOYAMA (Japanese)
A Tom of Finland Foundation member in 2004, the artist, who also works under the names Gorilla, Monster, and Shimo Himo, entrusted the Foundation with his artwork so that they may share it with the world.

JAY JORGENSEN (B. 1964, American)
Jay Jorgensen is a writer, photographer, film and fashion historian, and collector. He has authored three books on Hollywood history. In 1999, Jorgensen was a winner of the Tom of Finland Emerging Artist Competition Grand Prize. His photographs have been published in magazines such as T.V. Guide and People, and Shades of Desire, a monograph of his photography work, was published by Bruno Gmunder in 2006. Jorgensen lives and works in Palm Springs, CA.

“Every visual artist working in erotica owes a great debt to Tom of Finland. He was so supremely talented, and his work was so influential, there was no way the art world could look the other way and dismiss him. He’s elevated all of us.” – JJ

JEAN FERRERO (B. 1931, French)
Jean Ferrero is a self-taught photographer who has produced 20,000 photographs using 150 or more models. Photographing his athletically-built friends in natural landscapes from 1950 through the 1970s, Ferrero sold “cartes postales” (postcard size prints), color slides, and 8mm black and white or color films by mail in Europe and the U.S.A. Ferrero lives in Nice, France.

Discover more AllTogether artists

The exhibition tells the individual stories of the artists. At the same time, the exhibition locates parallels, interactions, and influences between Tom of Finland Foundation, Tom’s aesthetic impact, and the community of artists that have formed throughout the years around them…View

Published: 8th June 2022

Categorised in: Art Offering, Events