Welcome Artist-in-Residence Georg Meyer-Wiel

Photo by Michael Taubenheim

Tom of Finland Foundation welcomes Artist-in-Residence Georg Meyer-Wiel and his new exhibition, Codes of Belonging.

During his residency in Los Angeles, Georg Meyer-Wiel is creating a series of paintings and drawings that examine how Gay identity is expressed through clothing, posture, and self-presentation. Through portraiture, the project considers dress codes not simply as expressions of style or eroticism, but as a visual language through which confidence, vulnerability, desire, and belonging are communicated.

“At the heart of my practice is an investigation into dress codes as a cultural language,” Meyer-Wiel said. “Clothing communicates who we are, the communities we belong to, and the histories we carry.”

Drawing from conversations and life sittings with members of the LA Gay community, Meyer-Wiel’s portraits reveal the emotional significance of garments and accessories, showing how they shape the way individuals present themselves to the world.

The artist’s background in menswear at the Royal College of Art and his career as a costume designer inform an approach that views clothing as an active force in constructing presence and meaning.

Alongside these encounters, Meyer-Wiel engages with the Foundation’s archive to examine Tom of Finland’s enduring influence on contemporary representations of Gay masculinity. By placing archival research in dialogue with contemporary portraiture, the project traces how visual codes of leather, uniforms, gesture, and embodiment continue to evolve while maintaining connections to shared histories. The resulting works become contemporary documents of Gay visual culture, preserving not only individual likenesses but also the evolving languages between dress, identity, and belonging.

Published: 29th July 2026

Categorised in: News