Tom of Finland:
Art & Culture Fair 2022
Second Home London:68-80 Hanbury Street, E1 5JL
The Festival is ToFF’s yearly programming effort to bring together artists, galleries and patrons from all over the globe in a socially friendly setting, so that they can network as well as buy and sell works. This year’s event brought together artists, vendors, performers, DJs, and galleries. ToFF also presented their annual awards.
Second Home and the Tom of Finland Foundation (TOFF) hosted this 27th Tom of Finland Art & Culture fair — Tom Unites. The Festival opened its doors to the public Saturday, 8th October from noon till 7p, and Sunday, 9th October from 11am till 7pm.
This year, the fair went international
More than 65 years ago, Tom of Finland first began exhibiting his now-iconic erotic artworks in beefcake magazines, circumventing the strict laws that prohibited homosexual art at the time. In the decades that followed, his subversive illustrations would lay the blueprint for other artists to explore sexuality in their work, a legacy that is celebrated by his namesake foundation, which he co-founded in 1984.
On October 8th, the ToFF continued its legacy with the 27th iteration of its yearly arts and culture festival, taking place in both Los Angeles and – crossing the Atlantic for the first time ever – in London.
For almost three decades, the Tom of Finland Art and Culture Festival was being held in the US, but this year it’ went worldwide for the first time, taking place in both Los Angeles and London. In LA, the event returned to Second Home Hollywood for the second consecutive year, featuring art installations, performances, and presentations.
In London, it was hosted at Second Home’s London outpost in Spitalfields. On Friday night, the Eagle is also hosted a viewing of Gay Propaganda, a program of short films featuring the work of Bruce LaBruce and Matt Lambert.
“Having artwork in your own private space brings us great joy,” says ToFF co-founder Durk Dehner, who inaugurated the international edition of the festival. “And what better surroundings to find work that speaks to you? Our festival is uninhibited and comfortable – like our very natures.”
Text obtained primarily by Dazed Magazine Article, written by Thom Waite
Photography provided by Martin Perry
