As Palm Springs Leather Pride approaches, we spoke to Durk Dehner, who co-founded the Tom of Finland Foundation with artist Tom Valio Laaksonen (aka Tom of Finland). Known for his bold, hyper-masculine depictions of men, Tom’s work is immediately recognizable and emblematic of Palm Springs queer culture.
The foundation’s mission to preserve, protect, and promote queer art shines through in its extensive programming, and during Leather Pride (Oct. 24–27), there are plenty of ways to engage with the brand and learn about Tom of Finland’s legacy.
Interested in browsing art? Visit ArtWorks in Palm Springs Oct. 23–Nov. 3 to see and purchase pieces from the foundation’s artist-in-residence program. Or head to the Palm Springs Cultural Center Oct. 25–Nov. 3 to view a display of archival from Tom of Finland artwork.
On Oct. 23, Dehner will speak at the Mizell Center in Palm Springs about Tom’s legacy and the foundation. On Oct. 24, he’ll join nude photographer Tom Bianchi in conversation at the Palm Springs Cultural Center, followed by cocktail reception.
The celebration continues at the Tool Shed, where the foundation will have a booth at the Dark Alley Marketplace on Oct. 25, followed by a cigar social benefiting the foundation on Oct. 26.
How was the foundation started?
It started with a desire on the part of the artist Tom of Finland. He and I became business partners in 1980, and I was really just wanting to assist him in anything that was on his bucket list. One of the things that was on his list was to have an archive. In 1984, we got that running, and very soon after we started it, other artists and friends of ours who were collectors wanted to find homes for some of their work. They came to us and asked us if we would be willing to be recipients of their works.
Tom and I had a conversation, lasted about 45 minutes, and we made the decision to open up. Now, we collect and document and create programs for those artists. It was really good because he was right there at the helm of it for six years. We were able to document more of his life, and at the conclusion of [his life], we were able to write a biography and create a documentary called Daddy and the Muscle Academy.
Durk Dehner.
PHOTO BY ELLIOTT MORGAN
What is the most important thing that the Tom of Finland Foundation does?
Our mission is to preserve, to protect, and to promote the erotic arts. What we do is exactly that — we have a very large archive that has tens of thousands of items in it. It’s a really beautiful exposé of queer culture during the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, and forward. We present that art from the past to the public and also to young developing artists. We have an artist residency program, which we’re very proud of. It’s small in that we only have 12 artists per year that stay and live at the Tom House three months at a time, and they get to have exposure to all of that. What we’re doing is we’re providing our history to those developing artists.
What kind of programming does the foundation host?
We have an exhibition that’s traveling in Europe right now, which has 100 works from our permanent collection of different artists, including Tom. It’s been in Venice and Paris and is going to have a small exposé at The Salon by NADA & The Community, which is an art fair in Paris. I was just in London for the Arts & Culture festival there. It was a curated festival, and we did it with a very well-known facility called Show Studios. We had programming throughout the weekend where people were giving interviews and lectures, and it was really quite amazing. We also had a VR project that is tied to the Tom House on exhibit at Queer Britain.
“Untitled,” 1980, colored pencil on paper, by Tom of Finland.
COURTESY TOM OF FINLAND FOUNDATION
What kind of art does the foundation preserve?
Because we don’t buy any art, part of our mission is that it has to be donated to us. We have literally hundreds and hundreds of artists that have gifted to the foundation. [When] people die, and their families don’t know what to do with their work, or they want to destroy it — we’ll step in and say, “We’ll take it from you, and we’ll preserve it.” We keep that legacy in that person’s name, if possible.
Can you tell us about Tom’s erotic art?
The main thing with his work is we have a crossover of different mediums that he worked in, and most of his work is out in the popular culture because he was a working artist, so he sold his work. What we have in the archive is work that we’ve been able to collect, get donated back to the foundation.
And we want to move further away from the word “erotic” — it served us well for many, many years, but now it’s out of date. What we’re really using to replace it is the word “queer.” For example, the Tom House is a historic cultural landmark of [Los Angeles], and the word “queer” was used in describing the artist that lived here for a decade, which was Tom of Finland. He was a queer artist. We [want to be] much more inclusive.
Can you talk about some of the programming in Palm Springs for Leather Pride?
We’re bringing a small exhibition of original Tom of Finland art. We’ll have an exhibition at the Mizell Center and the Palm Springs Cultural Center. I’m going to have a talk with [nude photographer] Tom Bianchi. Richard Villani, who’s our creative director, and I will have a vendor booth at the Dark Alley Marketplace. We’re also doing a cigar social and an exhibition of works that will be for sale from our artist-in-residency program.
We have so much different programming so that we can reach out and get more of the queer populace involved with us.
Do you think Tom of Finland’s art goes beyond gay men?
I have been so impressed with lesbians who have told me how big of fans they are of Tom of Finland. I think that Tom of Finland could have its own lesbian weekend just for women, and it would be fun, because it inspires and ignites that pleasure.
I was in Riga in Latvia, and we had a group exhibition we were part of, and there were three women who were just laughing, looking at Tom’s art and just enjoying themselves. I went up to them and I said, “Can I know what you’re experiencing?” And they said, “He just makes us feel really good inside.” That was really very touching.
There was a contemporary female photographer from Paris. I caught her at an opening of Tom’s work at a gallery there, and she was just smiling and looking over the crowd and beaming. And I said, “Would you share with me what was in your mind?” And she said to me, “Here’s the works of a man who did not inhibit what was in his heart, and what he represents is freedom for all of us.” That’s really in a nutshell what the foundation represents. He represents freedom.
Everyone is welcome. When you look at the diversity of the people that come to see us, they’re from all over the world and all ethnicities and all sexualities. They inherently feel that we’re not representing a white male, we’re representing our expanding community and how it gets expressed.
What are the oldest and newest pieces of media in the archive?
We have four Japanese pillow paintings from the early 20th century, so they’re quite old, and they are made on silk. They’re paintings made for brides to show them how to pleasure their husbands.
We have an artist in residence here right now. He takes Polaroids of guys — usually naked — and then he cross-stitches on top of the Polaroid. He came up with this on his own, and it’s very unique.
What’s your favorite Tom of Finland artwork?
It’s called “Ecstasy.” It’s a colored pencil of a man who is laying naked, and he’s got his arms around pairs of boots, looking directly at the viewer. And for him, that character, he’s in ecstasy because he loves boots.
