Volume 355 | 24th October 2025 | | |
eNews #355
News from TOM's Foundation
24th September 2025
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Panel Discussion: 25th October, NYC
Artists reflecting on Queer figuration in their work
with Tom of Finland as a source of inspiration.
With artists Bony Ramirez and Alannah Farrell
in conversation with Michael Bullock.
Take in the talk and the new Tom of Finland, time-limited edition print, Flower, created in collaboration with BOFFO and Powerhouse Arts.
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SWEATMOTHER Arrest the Image
Through 30th October
Los Angeles
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Drawing from the fantasy of absence and the legacy of Leather, the show explores masculinity moving beyond biology towards alternatives.
The artist will be available on 29th October from 11a-4p for walk-throughs.
SEE PHOTOS FROM THE OPENING
| | | | The first solo exhibition in Italy by Salandra, a self-taught artist based in New York, internationally known for his thread paintings depicting joyful, erotic scenes between Queer men and other expressions of same-sex desire. | | | | |
Wish You Were Queer
Through 26th October
Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany
| The exhibition examines the self-image and perception of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex people throughout the centuries with works of art by over 30 artists from the Middle Ages to the present day. It demonstrates the highly fluctuating degree of visibility in images. | | | | |
"Tom of Finland Foundation has supported my work from the very beginning, from the Emerging Artist Competition to group exhibitions in the US and Europe, to judging, and now the Residency Program.
Their mission goes far beyond preserving Tom’s legacy; they actively mentor, protect, and give space to new Queer voices."
| | | | Richard Villani:
"A couple of months ago, I got a notice from Instagram about an image from two or three years ago that they were removing because of community standards. I found that interesting. I don’t know if someone reported it, or somehow the algorithm picked it up." | | Onur Hastürk's ten new masterpieces, specifically created for the exhibition, are the culmination of his time in Tom of Finland Foundation's residency program, where this series began. Hastürk continues to expand the Pleasure Garden universe, exploring the aesthetic, political, and historical dimensions of desire, and uniting the past and present through a bold, liberating visual language. | | |
(Detail) © 1970 Tom of Finland Foundation
The original untitled drawing, from Kake Vol. 5–Punishment, was created by Tom of Finland in 1970. This image marks the final page in that volume of the Kake series, first published by COQ International in Denmark.
The Kake graphic novels were originally commissioned by Michael Holm, who led Gay publishing at DFT, and approached Tom in the late 1960s to create an ongoing comic. Between 1968 and 1986, Tom produced a total of twenty-seven volumes of the Kake series, a groundbreaking body of work that fused unapologetic eroticism with humor, tenderness, and a utopian sense of masculinity.
For these publications, Tom rendered interior pages in crisp black line art and opaque medium, and crafted the covers in detailed graphite, ensuring high-quality reproduction. This particular panel—now archivally printed as Flower—captures Tom at the height of his storytelling and technical mastery, where erotic narrative, aesthetic elegance, and cultural subversion meet.
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Tom of Finland Foundation is dedicated to the preservation of LGBTQ+ art, erotica, culture, creativity, history, heritage, memories, legacies, and communities. It preserves us, our struggles, successes, and existence.
These values also enliven, inspire, and embolden us to express ourselves and our Queerness through drawing, painting, sculpting, collaging, building, designing, singing, screaming, crying, persevering.
We preserve to persevere.
Help us continue our legacy by donating to Tom of Finland Foundation today.
| | Check your Membership Card to see if it is time to renew. Perhaps it's time to JOIN? With upcoming members-only programming in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Palm Springs, and New York, now is the perfect time! | |
Events and posts on our website with this icon offer galleries, podcasts, videos, Zoom talks, and other electronically accessed media.
As we always have, we continue to create public programming that protects, preserves, and promotes erotic art, broadening our global scope by offering more online.
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ToFF's eNews keeps you updated on the latest Tom of Finland Foundation news.
Find out what's happening around TOM's Foundation.
Tom of Finland Foundation
Post Office Box 26658, Los Angeles, California 90026 USA
www.TomOfFinland.org
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