CURRENT

Coinciding with the exhibition, TOM House: The Work and Life of
Tom of Finland at MOCA Detroit, Frozen Palms presents a highlight of carpets
designed in collaboration with Tom of Finland Foundation.

ON VIEW APRIL 19 - MAY 19, 2018

Tom of Finland’s drawings – remarkable not only for their masterful rendering,
but also their fantastical representation of the male form – have been long
celebrated for their radical role in broadening the popular understanding of
Queer experience in art. Placed in context with his peers, the assemblage of
these artworks engages a sensational narrative, one that helped define a generation.

The integration of Tom of Finland’s work into the media at hand – hand made
rugs and pillows – was ignited by the unique environment and interior elements
that make TOM House. Located in Echo Park, Los Angeles, it is home of Tom of
Finland Foundation, guardians of the artist’s body of work and living archive for
the erotic arts, and where Tom permanently lived for the last decade of his life.
Founded in 1984, it a place where Tom’s relentlessly butch aesthetic and
drawings mingle with different styles of décor, artifacts, rotating art displays and
open air installations. It is a place that is marked by a community that disarms
shame and judgment, and promotes Tom’s message of encouraging respect,
acceptance and love through art.

Image: TOM OF FINLAND, Untitled (in situ), 1977

PAST