Soft-core pornography has been a staple of Western art since at least 1538, when Titian finished his lusciously naked “Venus of Urbino” reclining seductively on a couch, painted for the bed chamber of Guidobaldo della Rovere, a local duke in waiting.

Bob Mizer and Tom of Finland aren’t exactly Titian, but their erotic and often witty photographs and drawings, respectively, had an indelible impact in the second half of the 20th century, surreptitiously smuggled into hundreds of American bed chambers from coast to coast.

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To those familiar with Tom of Finland, the very mention of his name brings to mind a display of prime beef that would put a butcher shop to shame. That’s not an inaccurate image, but it doesn’t come close to explaining the importance of Touko Laaksonen’s art. His masterful drawings of the male form didn’t just echo an emerging segment of gay male culture; they helped shape it.

The ’80s blockbuster “Top Gun” drew heavily on the visual theme of uniformed male partners. Tom Cruise’s Maverick character played out a heterosexual love story that could not disguise the homoerotic setting. The liberating effect of Tom’s men smiling lustfully in the bright light of day cannot be underestimated. No longer confined to the subterranean meat mazes of popular porn scenarios, his finely crafted icons are now out there for all to enjoy.

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The artist Hawkins co-curated Tom of Finland & Bob Mizer, a retrospective on the two iconic gay artists now on view at MOCA | The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. “Both Bob and Tom were able to live in a world in which their desires were far from accepted but their solution was always to return to the studio and kind of passionately imagine new worlds into existence. There’s great inspiration for artists there: just follow your heart or your hard-on.”

If you’ve never heard of Richard Hawkins before, now is the time to start Googling his name. Since the early 1990s, Hawkins has been producing some of the most evocative, incomparable artwork we’ve ever seen, all teeming with an undercurrent of homoerotic appreciation and longing.

Using collage and sculpture as his primary medium (although branching out into just about everything else as well), Hawkins’ work has been featured in galleries across the world, and for good reason: with pieces that are as elaborate and carefully designed as they are rife with gay imagery and subtext, Hawkins’ work speaks to people all across the Kinsey scale, transcending what often ends up being a niche audience.

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As an artist who has spent a lot of time looking at, thinking about, and making my own collages, I have taken the opportunity as guest co-curator of Bob Mizer & Tom of Finland to introduce a wider and more generous selection of collages by the artists than previously has been exhibited.

Some might consider these works to be minor aspects of the artists’ practices. Tom of Finland’s collages were created to be used as image banks and photographic references for his drawings; they were resources from which he may have found inspiration for rendering a handsome face or gathered the details necessary to get the stretch of leather across a thigh just right.

Similarly, for Mizer, the photo-collaged catalogue boards were midway points between the production and distribution of his films and photographs. These artifacts were intended to be photographed, printed out, and disseminated as 4x5s. Neither artist, apparently, considered their collages the “real work.”

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Variety has chosen its 10 Directors to Watch for 2013:

Amma Asante (“Belle”)
Clio Barnard (“The Selfish Giant”)
Anthony Chen (“Ilo Ilo“)
Paul Duane (“Very Extremely Dangerous.” “Natan”)
Ben Falcone (“Tammy”)
Maya Forbes (“Infinitely Polar Bear”)
Aron Gaudet & Gita Pullapilly (“Beneath the Harvest Sky”)
Dome Karukoski (“Heart of a Lion” and upcoming Tom of Finland biopic)
Justin Simien (“Dear White People”)
Gren Wells (“The Road Within”)

The December 17 issue of Variety includes profiles of the directors and Creative Impact honorees, who will also be honored at a brunch on January 5 at the Parker Palm Springs.

Variety’s 10 to Watch series spotlights emerging writers, actors, producers, directors, comics and cinematographers. The honorees are selected by a team of Variety editors, critics and reporters.

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Artists Corner Gallery & Bookmaking & Photo LA
present:
Round Hole, Square Peg
A New LGBT Aesthetic for the 21st Century

CALL FOR ARTISTS
Deadline: December 31, 2013.

Details

Smokey Is
Home For The Holidays

Durk and Smoky (center) with his parents

A sweet, little, grey kitten made his way to TOM House. The next morning as we were putting up our “found” flyers, we saw a “lost” flyer on the telephone pole. One call and our neighbors were running down the street to be reunited with their baby.

The “reward”? We all named the affectionate bundle “Smoky” (with a promise to get him an ID collar).

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TOM OF FINLAND (Touko Laaksonen, Finnish, 1920 – 1991),
Untitled, 1970, Pen & ink on paper, ToFF #70.01
© 1970 Tom of Finland Foundation

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