Over the course of four decades, Tom of Finland created 3,500 illustrations of homoerotic fetish art. The artist’s legacy is now being honoured by Itella, the Finnish postal office.
Cultural historian Joseph W Slade has called Tom of Finland the “most influential creator of gay pornographic images,” and that’s exactly why his work has been selected to be on the nation’s stamps, which were designed by Timo Berry.
“The sheet [of stamps] portrays a sensual life force and being proud of oneself. There is never too much of that in this northern country,” Berry said in a press release from Itella.
The sexy stamps will be released in September, the same time a new postal museum is scheduled to open in the Vapriikki Museum Centre in Tampere.
Watch Xtra’s video on Art and Queer Culture, including Tom of Finland, here.
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