Out of the closet, over the hedge

Give Brandon Sward a home where butch Lesbians roam, where a beard and top surgery display—a.k.a. TOM House in Echo Park.

BANANA REPUBLIC/FRATRICIDE, TOM House, Los Angeles, 22nd August 2024. Photo by Gray Wielebinski.

Tom of Finland House (TOM House) is separated from Laveta Terrace by a tall green hedge. It’s not immediately clear whether this is to shield the outside world from what is going on inside or the inside world from what is going on without. Either way, whenever I come to the House, I feel as though I’m passing through a membrane to another universe. Butch Lesbians roam in button-ups or harnesses, a given individual simultaneously sports a beard and a visible thong, top surgery scars flash through the open sides of DIY muscle shirts, and—like a cherry on top—a jacked man clad in dark leather vest, shorts, and canine muzzle-mask searches for a master.

In 1984, Tom and friend/businessman Durk Dehner cofounded Tom of Finland Foundation to preserve his legacy—and the rest is, as they say, history.

One of TOM House’s signature initiatives is its Artist-in-Residence Program. I find myself there on a late August night for the dual event Banana Republic/Fratricide, offered by current artists-in-residence Yun-Pei and Gray Wielebinski, respectively. Although both have projects on display, the centerpiece of the evening is a quartet of readings by Asa Seresin, Harry Tafoya, Luis Ortega Govela, and Ana Howe Bukowski.

The readings both inform and are informed by the practices of Wielebinski and Yun-Pei. Wielebinski has appropriately devoted his time at TOM House to researching another experiment in sexualized communal living: The fraternity house. Tonight, several massive paddles plastered in naked men, female bodybuilders, and puppies stand as testament to this particular creative interest. 

In a small room to the left of the entrance, Yun-Pei presents a body of work that uses video and painting to explore the intersections of race and sexuality. As darkness falls upon this Queer oasis, Sevyn 0000 takes to an impromptu DJ booth in front of which the readings had concluded shortly before. Friends goad one another to do keg stands on one of the two beer receptacles begging to be used for the purpose. The whole affair feels like a college party but much better, mostly because it is much, much Gayer.

READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE BY BRANDON SWARD

Published: 14th September 2024

Categorised in: Events, News