Ivy Bottini, Jay Jorgensen, Michael Kirwan, and Miguel Angel Reyes will be exhibiting.

The Tom of Finland Foundation will also have an exhibit about the life and work of its namesake.

Ivy Bottini:
Ivy Bottini is an artist, actor, comedian, director, mother and political activist. She is a founder of the first chapter of the National Organization for Women, in 1966, and designed their national logo in 1969. She founded the first AIDS organization in Los Angeles, AIDS Network; founded the Los Angeles Lesbian/Gay Police Advisory Board; and helped spearhead the defeat of the Briggs (No on 6), No on LaRouche and No On 64 Initiatives.

Ivy was a full time artist for 25 years. She is currently preparing for another Art Show while doing her activism.

In 1991 she received Drama Logues “Best Performance Award” for the highly acclaimed “Against the Rising Sea,” and in 1998 the “Ivy Theatre” was established and named in her honor.

Currently she is the Co-Chair of the City of West Hollywood’s Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board and, under her leadership, the Advisory Board spearheaded the exploration/issue of both partner abuse and the use of crystal meth within the Gay and Lesbian Community.

Ivy is a Founder of the non-profit Gay and Lesbian Elder Housing Corp. The Corporation is building 104 units of affordable apartments. The building is the first of it’s kind in the nation and is located in Hollywood, California.

Jay Jorgensen:
Website

Jay Jorgensen was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1964. He picked up his first camera at a very young age and was hooked. Growing up, he began shooting landscapes and pictures of friends. An early influence were the beautiful nudes and photographs of dancers by Kenn Duncan in "After Dark" magazine. "It was one of the few gay-related magazines that you could just buy on any newsstand," Jorgensen says, "and it was very important in shaping the way I looked at photography."

Moving to Los Angeles in 1985, Jorgensen's work took a turn when a friend asked him to take some nudes. "It opened up a whole new way of expression for me, and I began asking friends to pose for me. Those early images allowed me a certain intimacy in the images because of my familiarity with the subjects.

"There was a great renaissance in black-and-white photography about that time. Herb Ritts, Bruce Weber, Helmut Newton were all publishing books," continues Jorgensen, "and the images were like none I had ever seen before. I realized the sky was the limit. Horst and George Platt Lynes are also two of my favorite photographers and I have learned a lot by looking at their mastery of shadows.

"Capturing the human body on film allows me to speak with a vocabulary that I just don't have with words," says Jorgensen. "When I'm photographing, I leave the color world and step into a fantasy world of black-and-white shadows. Form and light are the most important components of my images - but I also love telling stories of graceful dancers, romantic couples, artists struggling with their art or whatever ideas I want to explore at the time."

Michael Kirwan:
Website

Michael Kirwan was born in both New York City and 1953. He discovered his talent for drawing early on, but was was discouraged by his family because it was sissyish. After many interesting and entertaining years (the details of which are fuzzy due to his fondness for gin) he began producing illustrations for porn magazines in the mid-1980s and became a professional —but often penniless — freelance smut artist in 1990. His closest friends describe him as "smarmy, irreverent, snide, manipulative, duplicitous, arrogant, ridiculous and possibly a sociopath".

He's had quite a few exhibits in L.A., Miami. New York and a few other places that have slipped his alcohol-sodden mind. Michael's artwork has appeared in numerable magazines — both gay and straight — and is collected by the most sophisticated people on the planet. He is currently the "Artist in Residence" at the ToFF House, has a "Hall of Fame" award, and just been approached for a book about his images. You can view the extent of his labors at www.KirwanArts.com.

Miguel Angel Reyes:
Website

Los Angeles-based portrait and figurative painter, muralist, printmaker and illustrator Miguel Angel Reyes incorporates expressionist brushwork, a saturated palette and the classical tradition in his subject portrayal.

Born in Colima, Mexico in 1964, 10-year-old Reyes immigrated to the U.S. with his family and grew up in Southern California. He graduated from Otis Art Institute/Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles with a BFA in illustration. Aside from a season working as a jazz and modern dancer for the San Diego Dance Theater in 1993, the whole of his professional career has been devoted to visual art.

Reyes' study of both dance and photography have always served the way he creates visual art. Knowledge of movement and anatomy help him pose his subjects. And by taking his own photos - whether on the street, in clubs, or for specific portrait commissions - he creates an intimate connection with his subjects.

Since 1989, Reyes has had fifteen solo exhibits and been featured in over hundred group shows throughout the US, as well as in Mexico, Europe and Asia. His prints hang in major museums and in private collections. In 2002, he produced charcoal illustrations for the CD covers and posters in the Savoy Jazz "Timeless" series. In 2003, he produced silkscreen prints for the L.A. Country Office of AIDS Living Responsibility Campaign.

An accomplished muralist, in 1995 Reyes completed one of the largest mural projects in Los Angeles, the 750 foot Amistades (Friendships) at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Argyle.

As an artist for whom the personal is political, Reyes has contributed both artwork and his talents as a curator to a wide variety of causes including Project Angel Food, Self-Help Graphics, and CARECEN (Central American Refugee Center).