House of NSFW

“It’s so fucking cool. It’s at Tom of Finland’s house. The view is amazing,” a comrade said as he called and invited me an art show in Echo Park this past Friday.

My reaction: “Tom who?”

“Tom of Finland, he’s, like, a famous artist,” he responded, followed by a silent Duh.

My GPS lead me to beautiful homes tucked away on Laveta Terrace, an area of the 'hipster hood that my ignorant "new-girl-in-town" geographical knowledge did not know existed.

Warm and fuzzy feelings ensued as I entered the California dream house — a gorgeous garden tucked behind tall shrubberies, charming 50s-esque patio, adorable staircase, cozy fireplace and… oh my god, THAT PENIS IS HUGE!

IS THAT A PISTOL IN YOUR POCKET?: Tom of Finland popularized (and fetishized) biker culture, allowing midcentury gay men an opportunity to adopt a strong masculine identity in juxtaposition to mainstream culture's depiction of gays as “girly-men.” (Credit: Tom of Finland)

Homoerotic art — mostly black and white sketches depicting graphic sexual acts — covered the walls. And I quickly learned that the house was actually a museum honoring Touko Laaksonen, otherwise known as Tom of Finland, and erotic art from around the world. The three-story redwood house, the first in fact to be built on the hill, is the former winter home of the Finnish artist, who moved to Los Angeles in 1981, and today it is home to the Tom of Finland Foundation (Warning:Site has photos decidedly NSFW: www.tomoffinlandfoundation.com) as well as four of its most loyal and loving members, who live in the house, tend to the estate and manage the erotic museum and library.

The artist rose to post-WWII fame drawing images of biker culture popularized by the 1953 Marlon Brando film The Wild Ones. Tom identified with the gang of misfits, who shunned mainstream mores. Tom of Finland’s 1950s illustrations of archetypical sailors, cops and jailbirds with their beautiful, a-hem, bulging muscles were published in physique magazines distributed to small-town newsstands everywhere. 

CALL OF DUTY: Tom's Finnish WWII uniforms are on display in his attic bedroom. 

Over the past six decades, Tom of Finland has become an international gay celebrity, but not until recent years has his art been recognized in mainstream art circles for all art lovers — gay or straight. Notorious publisher Benedikt Tacshen placed Tom in the company of Leonardo DiVinci and Michelangelo when he bound and sold 666-paged (oh, the irony!) books filled with Tom’s best creations. But the pièce de résistance of Tom’s art career came in 2008 when the New York Museum of Modern Art accepted four of Tom’s rough sketches and one untitled drawing.