Touko Laaksonen
The Man Behind Tom of Finland
Ecce Homo – The Preliminary Drawings

31 January – 15 April 2017
2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland
2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland
2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland
2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland
2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland
2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland
2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland
2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland
2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland
2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland
2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland
2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland
2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland
Previous
Next

Works

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
1978
Graphite on paper
29.8 × 21 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
1965
Graphite on paper
21 × 14.9 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
ca. 1966–1990
Cut-and-pasted photographs on paper
29.5 × 21 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

TOM’s Leather Guards #1
1976
Graphite on paper
28.6 × 20.3 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
1976
Graphite on paper
29.8 × 21 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
1977
Graphite on paper
30.5 × 20.3 cm


Show more works

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
1988
Graphite on paper
40.6 × 29.8 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
1984
Graphite on paper
33 × 22.9 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
1989
Graphite on paper
40.6 × 27.9 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
ca. 1964
Graphite on paper
21 × 14.8 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
1973
Graphite on paper
28.6 × 20.3 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
ca. 1976
Graphite on paper
29.8 × 21 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
1975
Graphite, pen and ink on paper
29.8 × 21 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
ca. 1974
Graphite on paper
29.2 × 20.8 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
1970
Graphite and color pencil on paper
29.8 × 21 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
ca. 1966
Graphite on paper
15.2 × 13.3 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
ca. 1965
Graphite on paper
21 × 14.9 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
1981
Graphite on paper
29.8 × 42.5 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
ca. 1965
Graphite on paper
21 × 15.2 cm

2017 Touko Laaksonen The Man Behind Tom of Finland

Untitled
1976
Graphite on paper
41.9 × 30.5 cm

Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Tom of Finland Galerie Judin
Previous
Next
Next

About

We are attracted to drawings, and particularly sketches, because their modesty of means and their unfinishedness allow an unobstructed insight into an artist’s intention and vision. What we find in them is spontaneity, immediacy, bareness, subconsciousness and humor. Drawings are an artist’s instant declaration of what is important and what is not. Sometimes their discontinuity and fragmentation confuse us. Their personal and often uninhibited content might make us feel uncomfortable. Yet the vigor, creative speculation and artistic freedom they offer will nevertheless draw us in. No pun intended. All of this holds true for the drawings of Touko Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland.

If we can agree upon the definition that great artists must be radical in the terms of their own time and have the power to change the way we see the world, then Tom of Finland undoubtedly counts among the great and truly influential artists of the latter 20th century. He managed to gain a huge international following outside the usual precincts of museums and galleries. Through his iconic images, he almost single-handedly changed the way gay men were perceived by society, and – maybe even more important – how gay men perceived themselves. The massive oeuvre that he produced over the course of a career spanning nearly six decades is devoted almost entirely to this one topic − men, their bodies and their spirits. This extraordinary consistency in subject-matter was matched by a life-long passion for the supreme discipline of freehand drawing. All he needed to create a universe of dazzlingly gorgeous hunks was a pencil and a sheet of paper. And he most likely drew every day of his life. Drawing, it seems, was an exercise for his restless imagination and desire.





Catalogue

Tom of Finland
Tom's Men

Edited by
Juerg Judin and Pay Matthis Karstens
Text by Juerg Judin and Pay
Matthis Karstens
In English


295 × 240 mm
126 pages, hardcover
69 color ill.
Published by Edition Judin, Berlin 2017
ISBN 978-3-943689-04-4

Out of print