Tom of Finland: The Complete Kake Comics

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Kake is among Laaksonen's most popular creations, having been alternately described as his "most iconic character" and as "the gay world's most familiar pin-up icon". Seen in today’s light, his leather-clad muscle men don’t seem that different from Tove Jansson’s Moomintroll fantasy figures. Even Laaksonen’s home country and namesake, in which homosexuality was criminalized until 1971, has come around to the artist’s importance: In 2014, it made a series of stamps honoring Tom of Finland, and a successful 2017 biopic was produced in the country. Over the course offive decades, Tom’s work reflected societal changes as they appeared in fashion,technology, architecture, and commercial design (he began his career as an advertising illustrator).

Tom of Finland - 100 Years - Viewing Room - David Kordansky Tom of Finland - 100 Years - Viewing Room - David Kordansky

Curated in close collaboration with Tom of Finland Foundation, the exhibition opens on March 20 and will be on view through May 1, 2021.Laaksonen was influenced by images of bikers as well as artwork of George Quaintance and Etienne, among others, that he cited as his precursors, "disseminated to gay readership through homoerotic physique magazines" starting in 1950. At first he kept these drawings hidden, but then destroyed them "at least by the time I went to serve the army. From a young age, he took an interest in leather and uniforms — particularly those of local loggers and farmers — which would become his primary stylistic touchstone: Sailors flex and embrace in his work, and bikers touch bulges. Laaksonen's life partner was the dancer Veli “Nipa” Mäkinen who shared his life for 28 years, until Mäkinen's death in 1981. Tom of Finland Foundation, dedicated to preserving Tom's legacy and supporting erotic art since 1984, operates out of the Tom of Finland House (TOM House), the artist's former shared residence and now a Historic-Cultural Monument in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Tom of Finland: Art of Strong Gay Masculinity - DailyArt Magazine Tom of Finland: Art of Strong Gay Masculinity - DailyArt Magazine

Tom of Finland’s deft pencil work and the immediate eroticism are enough to make any young gay boy a quick fan, but after a decade of looking at his drawings, I understand that his work transcends pornography and occupies a space of queer spirituality. In 1965, Tom of Finland began flirting with the idea of an ongoing character for his panel stories, the ultimate Tom’s Man. It’s a thing that I think is seemingly dead in San Francisco — the house is maybe the last bastion of the radical, queer, underground meeting place. The final Kake comic, Oversexed Office, was published in 1986; [12] after being diagnosed with emphysema in 1988, Laaksonen developed a tremble in his hands that restricted his ability to draw, and he died in 1991.

Hooven estimates that twenty percent or more of published works featuring Laaksonen's artwork produced between 1950 and 1979 were created without the consent or knowledge of the artist. It seems absolutely devoid of the Protestant reservedness, darkness, angst and pietism that has otherwise affected the Nordic culture. Dehner facilitated the show, and Mapplethorpe’s enthusiasm helped the artist land an exhibition at Robert Samuel Gallery in New York two years later.

Tom of Finland. The Complete Kake Comics - New Mags Tom of Finland. The Complete Kake Comics - New Mags

We kind of take Tom of Finland for granted, because, let’s be honest, as gay men, do we really need any more images of super muscular white dudes? The company published a new Kake story, Kake in the Wild West, as its first book in 1982; it quickly sold out its entire first print run. It’s funny to think that only a few years later Tom of Finland’s drawings appeared on national stamps and on bedsheets and cushion covers from the traditional Finnish textile company Finlayson, founded in 1820. In the early 1960s, the pioneering, boundary-pushing gay artist Robert Mapplethorpe, according to Patti Smith, discovered Tom of Finland’s work in a used bookstall in Times Square. Laaksonen often drew using photo-referencing, and frequently used photographs he shot himself of friends or amateur models wearing uniforms or demonstrating poses.

This in contrast with the mainstream, medical and psychological sad and sensitive young gay man who is passive. His work was published in the beefcake genre that began in the 1930s and predominantly featured photographs of attractive, muscular young men in athletic poses often shown demonstrating exercises. For example, some critics have noted instances of apparent tenderness between traditionally tough, masculine characters, or playful smiles in sado-masochistic scenes. A news piece earlier this month initially seemed to illustrate this trend, announcing the removal of The Tom of Finland Foundation Instagram account.

Tom of Finland - Artist - David Kordansky Gallery Tom of Finland - Artist - David Kordansky Gallery

Sheila Johnston reports from the 46th Edinburgh International Film Festival Sheila Johnston, The Independent, 21 August 1992. In the late 1960s he developed Kake, a character appearing in an ongoing series of comics, which debuted in 1968.I like the comic book format because I can show what is happening between two guys, not just how they look…” the artist wrote; Tom’s use of the comic book gives all of his characters a story, allowing the audience to see the progression of the scene through a beginning, middle and end rather than just viewing an image of two men together.