The annals of Tom

17th February 2012, 1:14 am

In those days, a Gay man was made to feel nothing but shame about his feelings and his sexuality. I wanted my drawings to counteract that, to show Gay men being happy and positive about who they were. Oh, I didn’t sit down to think this all out carefully. But I knew — right from the start — that my men were going to be proud and happy men! –Tom of Finland, c. 1984

Each generation questions the culture that came before them and then chooses what warrants inclusion into their lives. It is the responsibility of elders to inform of historical relevance, making aspects potentially more attractive to include, both into our collective and individual knowledge, of whom we are and from where we have come.

André Schlechtreim partnered professionally with a man who said some very poignant words about the artist, Tom of Finland. Harvey S. Shipley Miller of The Judith Rothschild Foundation stated that, “Tom of Finland was one of the five most influential artists of the last century; that influence transcended into the culture and became it.” Culture is like cloth, influences are threads woven into its fabric.

Harvey went on to say, “Tom opened the door way – the path – for so many to follow by not being afraid of homoerotic subject matter.” Tom is a true example of staying one’s course, for retaining one’s artistic ethics and in not compromising what one chooses to include in one’s art. In contemporary museum collections, the presence of Tom of Finland’s works, and those of other artists that depict overt sexuality, and to a lesser degree homosexuality, is now finally being seen.

On a separate, socio-political level, Tom is also being referenced as a defining mark when noting successful methods used in empowering marginalized groups. Legends of Greco-Roman times, mythological Nordic gods and the formidable Übermensch of Tom’s world: Peoples have always had visions large and powerful. The Homo tribes of the world needed a visualization of strength – a symbol for solidarity – to develop several generations of Queers that would embody the necessary self-assurance to rise up and overpower the suppressing, dominant society.

We achieved potency on many levels and in the realm of visionaries we were given an artist, Tom of Finland. His task was to learn how to draw and extend his ability to communicate an identity that would give freedom to young, developing Homosexuals. He showed us might and valor, our rightful domain in nature – not shame, not guilt. The radicalization of our movement was as a military exercise, every person having their duty; Tom’s was that of messenger, ours to realize our wholeness.

We successfully broke the shackles of being relegated as perverts, social misfits, and the criminal insane. The association and identification of Queers as “men”, worked. The strategic use of depicting the Homosexual male as almost identical to the Heterosexual male is the same technique being used in today’s politics for equality in marriage.

In a portfolio of over five decades of work, Tom of Finland has shown us power, tenderness, flamboyance, debauchery, distinctiveness – and lots of smiles – men complete. The artist, himself, is in the kingdom of heroes for all he accomplished.

Tom tried to quit his career as an artist many times after experiencing the abuses of theft and dishonesty, yet he had little choice but continue, driven by his need to express his love for man. The force that created Tom’s Foundation makes itself known today when we are faced with the same issues of thievery and duplicity in protecting Tom of Finland’s works.

A spirit force is the best way we can describe what rises up inside of us who manage his Foundation. It pushes us forward, assisting us with emergent erotic artists through programs that foster confidence, validation and recognition. Every artist carries Tom’s legacy as they explore, chronicle and enchant; never diminishing their own insight into the future.

Published: 17th February 2012

Tags: harvey

Categorised in: For the Record