Tour this LA home turned erotic art museum

TOM OF FINLAND Untitled, 1978

Nearly four decades’ worth of erotic art history is on display in this Echo Park home.

I’ve just entered a three-story craftsman house built in 1911 that looked rather unassuming from the curb of Laveta Terrace in Echo Park. It is, however, anything but. Recognized by The City of Los Angeles as a cultural-historic monument, it is the former residence of the influential Queer artist better known as Tom of Finland, and a certified must-see hidden gem in this sprawling city.

From the foyer, there isn’t a bare wall in view. Pieces of Gay erotic art in its many forms cover every surface imaginable. Paintings, photographs, collages, and occasional sculptures capture the male physique in a sensually curious but natural gaze. Above is a Michelangelo-like mural with strapping male angels surrounded by clouds and rays of sunshine, their elongated and aroused bodies aimed toward the ceiling light. It is, on a much smaller scale, a version of the Sistine Chapel’s famous interior, which is fitting given this space’s history of worship.

Fans of the artist flock to this location to express their reverence and adoration for the highly masculinized homoerotic art in the space better known as TOM House, which acts as the operating headquarters for Tom of Finland Foundation, a non-profit striving to promote Tom’s legacy and artistry along with other LGBTQ+ artists of erotic art to ensure it receives the notoriety it deserves in the realm of academia and beyond.

As part of that mission, the Foundation opens its doors to the public for regular tours, one of which I’m about to embark on.

Who is Tom of Finland?

“He still resonates, and if anything, he’s bigger than he’s ever been in pop culture, you know, in this timeframe right now,” Richard Villani, current creative director for Tom of Finland Foundation, said.

Tom began his life, as you may have surmised, in Finland. He was creatively gifted in his adolescence, having been exposed to music, art, and literature at an early age. His gaze was laser-focused at this time on a neighboring farm boy named Urho, who would eventually become one of the many gladiator-built, pierced-eye, and pouted-lip muses of his signature style.

He found further inspiration upon serving in World War II, where he encountered the type of uniformed men that would occupy his imagination. He would go on to indulge these fantasies, exploring the plump, muscular bodies he’d seen and letting his memories bolstered by creativity fuel his pen as he illustrated the male form.

As his art evolved, so did he, becoming a prominent member of Helsinki’s post-war bohemian set and immersing himself in Gay cruising culture. But it wasn’t until the end of 1965, after being nudged by a friend, that he sent his artwork to the famous American muscle magazine Physique Pictorial under the pseudonym Tom.

SEE THE COMPLETE ARTICLE BY JOEY HARVEY

Published: 28th August 2024

Categorised in: News