e-news #142 november 7, 2012

TOM  OF  FINLAND  FOUNDATION

Tips of the Hat and Odds & Ends:

Mark models for a Drawing Workshop in 2003

Mark Herman Has Passed Away Mark processed many elements of the well-rounded Homosexual. He knew a bit about almost anything but was only interested in a select few things at each station of his life. I knew Mark from 1977 to 2012 and I can truly state that he was one of the sexiest men to walk this planet. Oh, was he charming. He was a motorcyclist, a designer, a heavily driven maniacal perfectionist. Back in the late 1970s, Mark, working with Waldo Fernandez, created the look of the trendy Trumps on Melrose. He was one of the coolest of friends I could ever have had. Continued on our Announcements Page

TOM OF FINLAND (Finnish, 1920 – 1991), Untitled (Detail from “Finlander Studs 2?), 1974, Graphite on paper, 11.75” x 8.25”, Tom of Finland Foundation Permanent Collection #74.08 © 1974 Tom of Finland Foundation

UK Gay Arts Festival Pulls St. Petersburg Show Over Arrest Fears Liverpool’s Homotopia organizer compares Russian city’s ‘insidious’ anti-gay laws to 1930s Berlin after forced to cancel human rights exhibition. Liverpool’s Homotopia was due to show an exhibition chronicling the emergence of the gay rights movement in the UK and Europe, but organizers have pulled the program after being warned by British officials that they could be arrested or fined as a result. St Petersburg has been condemned by world leaders and human rights activists after it passed an anti-gay ‘propaganda’ law which effectively gags any public discussion of LGBT issues or events targeted at gay and trans people, including pride. Read more on Tom's Blog

Artwork presented for the Fair

Erotic Art Fair Weekend reviewed by Nathaniel Grey in Eye On WeHo "It’s no surprise that this annual event has become a favorite in the area. While some art fairs allow artists to display their body of work, the Tom of Finland Erotic Art Fair allows them to show their works of bodies as hundreds come together to celebrate the beauty and sensuality of the human form." Read the illustrated article HERE

Click on image for more about We the People

‘We the People’ at Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Space by Ken Johnson "The prevailing aesthetic and social pluralism embrace a drawing of two cowboys by the master of the gay porn cartoon, Tom of Finland; a full-length portrait of the feminist politician Bella Abzug by Alice Neel; and a collage titled “Black History” by Romare Bearden. The white middle class takes hits from a super-realist sculpture of a scruffy youth called “High School Student” by Duane Hanson and a weirdly funny, scatological painting of a nuclear family at home by Nicole Eisenman. A slick, billboard-size painting of Mitt Romney resembling a campaign ad made, presumably with ironic intent by Richard Phillips, pictures the opposition, but a rousing spirit of unity does not emerge from the clamor of different identity groups. A better snapshot of liberalism’s ennui would be hard to imagine." Read the full New York Times article.

TOM in Huffington Post LGBT History Month Icon Of The Day: Tom Of Finland The 20th century certainly had its share of incredibly influential gay artists but one man’s work arguably changed the way that gay men were seen — and saw themselves. Touko Laaksonen was born in Finland in 1920. As a child he loved music, literature and especially art and he began attending art school in 1939. Soon after Laaksonen began drawing homoerotic images of muscular men, many of whom were inspired by the men — like lumberjacks, police men and sailors — he looked up to and admired during his childhood. Read more on TOM's Blog

Jose Ponce

TOM House Was Photographed for Palm Springs Leather Pride Mr. LA Leather 2011 title holder, Leo Iriarte, and photographer, Jose Ponce paid a visit to TOM House recently. The two are collecting images of Southern California leather culture to display at a play party in Palm Springs this weekend for Leather Pride. "What I’m trying to capture is an image that not only will document Los Angeles Leather community, but to convey a leather experience." Find ToFF at the Leather Vendor Market on Friday. Palm Springs Leather Pride

ARTIST IN PRINT
Miguel Angel Reyes

Miguel Angel Reyes has a spread in Adelante magazine

"There are two pages of Miguel’s work and his bio. I encourage everyone to pick one up and read about our guy. Miguel hosts the Life Drawing Workshop here at TOM House every month and has a taste for men that would keep you running to the confessional every day!" — Jake

If you missed the October issue, you can catch the on-line version. The article is illustrated and is in both Spanish and English.

Miguel's Article in Adelante magazine

Miguel Angel Reyes Website

Tom of Finland Retrospective
Attracted Record Audiences in Sweden

TOM OF FINLAND (Finnish, 1920 – 1991),
Untitled, 1988, Graphite on paper, ToFF #88.01, © 1988 Tom of Finland Foundation

The Tom of Finland retrospective which was one of the key highlights of Turku’s European Capital of Culture 2011 has attracted record audiences of 31,000 over the summer at the prestigious Kulturhuset in Stockholm.

Read more on TOM's Blog

West Hollywood / Los Angeles
Erotic Art Fair Weekend

THANKS!
To All Participants

Artists Reception

Our Official Photographer

At the Fair

Thanks to all the remarkable Artists, Volunteers, ToFF Members, Special Guests,
Sponsors and friends who came came to support Art and go home with something Beautiful.

Everyone had a good time at TOM's Club. Welcome to all our new ToFF Members!

TOM Anthology at WeHo-ToFF Art Fair

Jeffrey Prang, Mayor, City of West Hollywood; John Heilman, Councilmember, West Hollywood;
S. R. Sharp, VP|Curator, ToFF; Kirsti Westphalen, Consul General, Finland;
Durk Dehner, President & Cofounder, ToFF

Read more on TOM's Blog.

Tom of Finland Tees

100% Cotton. Pre-shrunk, fitted. Four styles. Three colors.

Tom of Finland has been called the most influential creator of Gay pornographic images, and noted as one of the five most influential artists of the 20th century.

GEAR BERLIN Supports TOM OF FINLAND FOUNDATION
You can keep our culture alive and thriving, too!

GEAR Leather Rubber Sport Urban

Tom Set Sail
November 7th, 1991

EPILOGUE

It was so important to provide Tom the dignity of being in his own home, to be on his own time so he could choose, with a sense of self-determination, control over his own death.

Though Tom was in a hospital bed, rather than his own bed as he had intended, he ultimately succeeded in his design. May we learn from this and permit those who choose to navigate their own vessel into the sea, to do so with respect. Tom set sail on November 7, 1991.

Tom of Finland: Life and Work of a Gay Hero, 2012

THE ART OF GIVING

TOM OF FINLAND (Finnish, 1920 – 1991)
Perfection, 1990, Pastel on paper, 19.50” x 14.00”
ToFF #90.08, © 1990 Tom of Finland Foundation

Since 1984, Tom of Finland Foundation (ToFF) has been a driving force – some would say the driving force – in protecting, preserving, and promoting the world’s erotic art. The impetus for this came from our founder, the artist Tom of Finland , who felt that, whatever one’s gender or sexual orientation, erotic art was a source of beauty and pleasure.

As time goes on, Tom’s artistry is becoming more widely recognized: his “dirty pictures,” as he termed them, now hang in major museums, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Kiasma (Finland’s National Gallery) and The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

But we have to face facts. Even though the Foundation is a tax-exempt Educational Archive, the nature of our work – and the work we try to preserve – makes it highly unlikely that we will ever be eligible for the large grants which governments, corporations, and philanthropies bestow upon arts organizations.

Which is where you come in. If you believe erotic art is a worthwhile, joyous thing, worthy of protection — if you believe that trailblazers such as Tom of Finland – whose work influenced generations of Gay men to re-imagine themselves – deserve to be remembered and honored, no matter the vagaries of politics — and if you believe our culture is richer because of artists who may not always achieve mainstream recognition — then help us.

For questions and detailed information on
membership, the Capital Campaign, and bequests,
please write us at Administration@TomOfFinlandFoundation.org
or call 213.250.1685

We thank you for helping us in our mission to protect, preserve, and promote erotic art.

TOM House, 1421 Laveta Terrace, Los Angeles, California 90026

More on TOM's Blog

For A Look At The Entire Year, Visit The
F O U N D A T I O N     C A L E N D A R

the dispatch e-news is free and open to everyone interested in the foundation.

to change your subscription, visit here.

members of the press are especially invited to sign up for our press releases.