Holly Johnson | Artist Hall of Fame | 2024

 FOR ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENTS AND STEADFAST COMMITMENT
TO THE ART AND CULTURE OF OUR COMMUNITY

Artist, musician and writer.

Firmly established as a household name with his success with Frankie Goes to Hollywood and his first solo debut album in 1989.

In 1994, he revealed to us his struggle with, and acceptance of, his Gayness. He has been a monumental figure in our community. He was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 and has remained creative as a painter and printmaker and songwriter. One of his paintings appears as the cover to the Kirsty MacColl single “Angel”.

Born in Liverpool, he studied for a Master of Arts at art school and had his paintings exhibited at the Royal College of Art and at the Royal Academy in 2001. As a lover of art, he met Warhol and even named himself after one of Andy’s “superstars” (Holly Woodlawn).

The current exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool shows the visitor not only the glamor and sexual liberation but also the fear and stigma associated with being a Homosexual.

His creative genius has always put him at the forefront of every aspect of his career. His courage as an internationally renowned Queer artist has been an inspiration to untold millions.

Joining Tom of Finland, H. R. Giger, Herb Ritts, Pierre et Gilles, Don Bachardy, Bruce LaBruce and Tom Bianchi, it is our honor to induct Holly Johnson into the Tom of Finland Foundation Artist Hall of Fame.

Durk Dehner, ToFF President & Cofounder presents award to Holly Johnson
at the Tom of Finland Art & Culture Festival
at SHOWstudio in London on 20th September 2024. Photos by Hassan Saif.

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Published: 21st September 2024

Categorised in: For the Record