Tom of Finland Foundation Awards 2017

 

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Cultural Icon

FOR
ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT
AND IMMEASURABLE CONTRIBUTIONS
TO THE ART AND CULTURE
OF OUR COMMUNITY

Brian Anderson is known for his international success becoming Thrasher’s Skater of the Year in 1999 and winning the World Cup of Skateboarding in Münster, Germany the same year, he has since become one of the most iconic and respected professional skateboarders worldwide.

In 2016 Brian came out as gay in a Vice award-winning documentary by Giovanni Reda, where he talks about his journey, fears, and why it was the right decision to no longer keep his sexuality a secret.

When Brian said into camera, “I’m a professional skater and we’re here to discuss the fact that I am gay” he was transformed into an icon for our community.

We are impressed that now Brian is now committed to his art and we are proud to display his gift to our permanent collection, He-Man, as part of the Moving Picture exhibition at this year’s Art & Culture Festival We are fortunate to have in our library his zine, Cave Homo on which he collaborated with Christian Trippe and Luke Williams.

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Artist Hall of Fame

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

Jim French (July 14, 1932 – June 16, 2017) was an American photographer, filmmaker and publisher who, under the pseudonym Rip Colt, created Colt Studio.

French left a legacy of homoerotic images in photo sets, magazines, books and calendars that presented his work exclusively and set a new standard in photography of men. Given that he owned the company that produced and distributed his work, it was self-published.

French began drawing and photographing male erotica in the 1960s. His first published book, Man, was issued in 1972. Other books include Another Man, Jim French Men, Quorum, Opus Deorum, Masc., The Art of Jim French and The Art of the Male Nude. Colt magazines began in the early 1970s. By the late 1970s, short films were being issued in 8mm format; they were soon collected on video-cassette format, which were remastered for DVD format in the 1990s. These DVDs remain available. Annual calendars in the Jim French style, some of them including his iconic photographs, continue to be published each year.

French died at home in Palms Springs, California, at age 84.

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Lifetime Achievement Award

FOR LEADERSHIP AND STEADFAST COMMITMENT
TO THE ART AND CULTURE OF OUR COMMUNITY

 

Photographer Arthur Tress in the ’60s interviewed children about their dreams and then depicted the stories for his camera using the same children as his actors.

The images have a haunting, surreal quality. Long before the advent of Photoshop and digital affects, Aurthur gave us photographs of our dream images. The Dream Collector project took years and honed his skills. As a gay man he used this skill and focused it on gay desire and appreciation for men.  Tress captured with his shutter dicks and desire and the decadence of the gay male body.

His photography paved the way for homoerotic photographers. His first one-man show was at the Robert Samuel gallery in the West Village that also exhibited his peers Robert Mapplethorpe and Peter Hujar.

Exhibiting such bold and blatant work was risky, groundbreaking, and not without consequences. Still, Arthur Tress persisted  and has informed society on so much and given us so much on which to form our fantasies.

We, at Tom of Finland Foundation, honor his contribution, artistic vision, and unabashed photographing of gay desire.