Reality＆Fantasy: The World of Tom of Finland

Gallery X

Finished

Artists

Tom of Finland

“Reality & Fantasy: The World of Tom of Finland” brings together a selection of works covering the artist’s entire four-decade career, presenting works on paper using a variety of mediums such as graphite, gouache, markers, and pen & ink. Historically, the images highlight milestones and artistic stylistic developments in Tom’s life and practice—starting with his 1940s and ‘50s paintings in gouache of men in stylish attire and uniforms such as sailors, soldiers, and policemen in fantastic and romantic compositions influenced by his army service in Finland—to his stylized depictions of leathermen and muscle men in the ’60s and ’70s, and the cleaner, high-contrast and graphic drawings of his later career when he was working in Los Angeles.

The exhibition puts emphasis on Tom of Finland’s role in promoting sensual and erotic depictions of the male body as a catalyst for social change and the acceptance of gay people while facing a legal and social reality they were fighting to change. Delving into a world of fantasy, with sexual freedom, Tom depicted a new “gay masculinity,” adding to the vocabulary of what gay men were allowed to be by society.

The exhibition, at Gallery X, is the fruit of a collaboration between the Finnish Institute Japan, the Embassy of Finland in Japan, the Tom of Finland Foundation, The Container gallery, and Parco. The exhibition is curated by the Tokyo-based curator and director of The Container, Mr. Shai Ohayon. The exhibition was designed to coincide with Tom’s 100th birthday anniversary – #TOMs100.

Schedule

Sep 18 (Fri) 2020-Oct 5 (Mon) 2020