Even if you don’t know the name — and you should — you know the work.
Erotic images of men cavorting, posing and engaging in all kinds of sexual acts, large lips, wide chests and a specific look are the calling card of Touko Laaksonen, also known as Tom of Finland. His images were some of the first erotic drawings of men with men that were viewed by a specifically gay audience, with his work being published in such magazines as Bob Mizer’s Physique Pictorial. Tom’s images helped cement the icon of the leatherman as part of the diaspora of queer visual language, titillating and educating his audience at the same time.
Now it appears that a film about the artist, called Tom, is coming out of Finland.
I, for one, can’t wait to see how Touko goes on to become Tom. Unfortunately, it looks like it won’t be happening until 2015, but if Tom of Finland taught us anything, it’s that good things come to those who wait.
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