Tom of Finland hitches a ride into the mainstream

TOM OF FINLAND Untitled, 1973

On the corner of a major thoroughfare in central Helsinki two national heroes clash. The first is an elevated bronze statue of a distinguished-looking general on horseback, staring nobly into the distance. Directly across from him, an enormous vinyl banner of a man’s muscled back and pert ass ripples softly in the wind. He is facing away from the viewer and toward a fast-approaching biker daddy, signalling with one outstretched thumb that he’d just love to hitch a ride. The former is the man voted ‘the Greatest Finn of All-Time’, the controversial military leader Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. The latter is a drawing by the artist Tom of Finland, blown up to announce a major retrospective of his work at Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma. Wisely, the institution has chosen to honour him under his professional moniker, which doubles as a reminder of his origins: Tom OF Finland.

Tom of Finland’s triumphant homecoming – he spent much of his life abroad in America – is as fraught as it is overdue. Alongside death metal, Angry Birds, the Moomins and Marimekko, he is one of the country’s greatest cultural exports, having long since transcended the limits of a commercial illustrator – never mind a Gay pornographer – to be celebrated as a national treasure.  Comprised of hundreds of works across a suite of galleries, Tom of Finland: Bold Journey is the most complete legitimation of the artist’s work to date; the ultimate recognition of an outsider’s acceptance into the mainstream. It’s a remarkable accomplishment for a man who, born in 1920, was criminalized twice over (as a homosexual and an erotic artist) for much of his life; an achievement that was underscored at the show’s opening when Durk Dehner, the artist’s business partner and long-time President of Tom of Finland Foundation, was awarded the Order of the Lion of Finland by outgoing Prime Minister Sanna Marin.

SEE THE COMPLETE ARTICLE BY HARRY TAFOYA

Published: 29th June 2023

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