“Tom of Finland: The Pleasure of Play”

TOM OF FINLAND (Touko Laaksonen, Finnish, 1920 – 1991), Portrait of Pekka, 1975,
Gouache on paper, 10.69” x 18.81”, Tom of Finland Foundation Permanent Collection
© 1975 Tom of Finland Foundation

Touko Laaksonen, the artist known as Tom of Finland, helped shaped the sexual desires of generations of gay men. Who knew the erotic potential of muscles, mustaches, and tight leather outfits until Tom’s exquisitely finished drawings found their audience? His images lit up countless fantasies with their impossibly humpy, practically pneumatic men engaged in all sorts of exciting and—to judge by their happy grins—enjoyable activities, from the slightly lewd to the fully pornographic. Like another great gay artist, his younger contemporary, Andy Warhol, Tom came from a background in advertising and illustration. And also like Warhol, he eventually cut a wide swath through popular culture as this largest survey of his oeuvre to date attests.

Hugely popular and radically open in its treatment of sexuality, Tom’s classic work, some now more than half a century old, still looks contemporary, and this exhibition seems timely, if a little against the grain. In a domesticating moment of same-sex marriage, it feels more important than ever to remember the revelatory potential of gay sexuality when it was outlawed.

At Artists Space through 23rd August

ARTICLE BY JOSEPH R. WOLIN

Published: 17th July 2015

Categorised in: Events