Tom of Finland, the pseudonym of Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen, is best known for his stylized in-your-face erotic and fetish art depicting heavily muscled men with large penises in tight or partially removed clothing. Some may be shocked by the work of Tom of Finland, who was labeled as the “most influential creator of gay pornographic images” by cultural historian Joseph W. Slade, however, his work has been exhibited in the some of the world’s most important museums and galleries and is included in the permanent collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design to name a few.
