Gallery X at Shibuya Parco is hosting Japan’s first exhibition dedicated to Tom of Finland. The artist, whose work consisted of homoerotic depictions of masculine men, is celebrated for his influence on gay culture, which subsequently helped catalyse a pivotal change in the perception of gay men in the late twentieth century.
There will be a total of 30 pieces spanning four decades of the artist’s career, from his early work in 1946 when he returned to school after WWII, to drawings he completed after establishing the Tom of Finland Foundation in the ’80s. The curation will showcase how the artist’s style changed throughout his career, which evolved from paintings of uniformed soldiers inspired by his time serving in the military, to images of leatherclad men created during his time in Los Angeles.
The exhibition coincides with Tom of Finland's 100th anniversary and there will be an auxilary programme including special lectures and film screenings to accompany the event. Free lectures will be held in English online via Zoom between September 18 and October 5. Screenings of the 2017 biopic, 'Tom of Finland', will be held from September 18 to October 8 at Cine Quint and Uplink theatres in Shibuya. See the gallery's website for times and details on each scheduled event.