Tom of Finland, Reference Pages, Mixed Media Collage on Paper, 1966-1990. Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation
Growing up in a family-owned hair salon during the 1980s, Spanish artist Silvia Prada spent her formative years gazing upon countless images of male beauty and style, and developed a taste for gay pop icons. When she read an article on Tom of Finland in Interview magazine, Prada felt a profound kinship and liberation through the twin engines of sensuality and self-expression.
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For Prada, Tom was a seminal force in shaping her aesthetic sensibilities and artistic processes. Joakim Andreasson, Prada’s good friend and creative director of the Tom of Finland Store, knew of her obsession and arranged an introduction to the Tom of Finland Foundation. From there, a beautiful collaboration began and has culminated in TOM, an online exhibition of new drawings and collages inspired by the archive, accompanied by a book of the same name from Capricious Publishing.
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Here, Prada reflects on the universality of Tom’s work, and arts ability to speak to people of all genders and sexualities from all walks of life.
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Read the Full Story at AnOther Man
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Silvia Prada, Untitled, Graphite on Paper, 2017Courtesy of Silvia Prada