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A group presentation highlighting the range of the gallery’s program featuring:
Mario Ayala, Huma Bhabha, Matthew Brannon, Jared Buckhiester, Lucy Bull, Derek Fordjour, Jason Fox, Sam Gilliam, Sayre Gomez, Ron Gorchov, Raul Guerrero, Jennifer Guidi, Chase Hall, Lauren Halsey, Evan Holloway, Shara Hughes, Rashid Johnson, William E. Jones, Deana Lawson, Tala Madani, Sam McKinniss, Ivan Morley, Ruby Neri, Odili Donald Odita, Maia Cruz Palileo, Hilary Pecis, Mai-Thu Perret, Torbjørn Rødland, Chico da Silva, Ricky Swallow, Tom of Finland, Richard Tuttle, Tristan Unrau, Lesley Vance, Mary Weatherford, Michael Williams, and Betty Woodman.
TOM OF FINLAND Untitled, 1984, Graphite on paper, 17.25” x 12.13”, © 1984 Tom of Finland Foundation
Tom of Finland (b. 1920, d. 1991) is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century’s most infuential artists for his groundbreaking representation of the male figure. Originally trained in advertising, Tom deployed his technical mastery of drafting in both his career as a Helsinki creative executive and adjacent practice composing what he called his “dirty drawings”—idealized images of hyper-masculine characters, often engaged in erotic acts. Though he initially kept these works secret, Tom eventually began publishing in American “beefcake” magazines under “Tom”.
By the late 1960s, the sexual revolution and relaxing of censorship laws emboldened the artist to actualize the full scope of his vision—an unrestrained world of libidinous joy in which sex itself is a creative act. In defiance of the homophobic stereotypes prevalent throughout the era in which he came of age, Tom’s figures embody the revolutionary spirit of the 1960s and ’70s, openly fetishizing and reappropriating the accoutrements and hypermasculine associations of biker culture and military power to radically expand definitions of male desire.
Booth E20
VIP Preview: 3rd–4th December
Public Days: 5th– 7th December