Tom of Finland Foundation Presents FXLK Play: Mythmaking, Devotion, and Mischief at Tom of Finland Foundation

Business Wire

15-07-2025

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tom of Finland Foundation (ToFF) presents FXLK PLAY: Mythmaking, Devotion, and Mischief at Tom of Finland Foundation, its inaugural group exhibition of work by the more than 60 LGBTQ+ artists from around the world who have been granted residencies at the historic TOM House in Echo Park. It opens on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, at Long Hall in Plummer Park, 1200 North Vista Street, West Hollywood, California, with opening remarks at 3:00 pm by Edward Cella, ToFF CEO, followed by a keynote address by exhibition curator, Jamison Edgar, a panel conversation featuring recent and current artists-in-residence, and a special performance and reception from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The exhibition will be on view, with docents on site, Thursdays through Sundays, from noon to 5:00 pm, and runs through October 12, 2025. A robust schedule of free public programming is planned for Long Hall and throughout the City of West Hollywood, in collaboration with public and private partners, organizations and local businesses.
Curated by LA-based artist, writer, and curator Jamison Edgar, FXLK PLAY celebrates fifteen years of ToFF's Artist-in-Residence Program. It frames TOM House as a living pantheon of Queer mythmaking, where, for over forty years, artists have been creating art. Featuring over sixty artworks across painting, drawing, sculpture, video, and sound, FXLK PLAY transforms Long Hall into an immersive environment inspired by the densely hung walls of erotic art at TOM House. Moving between small groupings and richly layered, salon-style clusters, the installation plays with scale and rhythm to create a dynamic, enveloping field of Queer imagery.
'The exhibition proposes Tom of Finland as a modern folk hero, with his move to Los Angeles marking a shift from underground icon to something larger: a storied figure whose image is continually rewritten through the desires, anxieties, and fantasies of Queer life today,' Edgar said. 'At TOM House, the artists-in-residence are at the center of this work. They don't simply reflect Tom's life, they continually remake it: In doing so, they become the orators of his evolving legacy, carrying it forward into the future,' they said.
Organized into four thematic sections, the exhibition explores themes of mythology, devotion and erotic mischief.
'House of Gods' draws on the home's symbols and archives, including more than 1,000 works by Tom of Finland and 8,000 pieces by other LGBTQ+ artists.
'Pleasure Park' explores how desire transforms physical space, inspired by the gardens and private moments at TOM House.
'Skeletons in the Closet' invites artists to examine taboo, kink, race and gender. A listening station features recorded reflections from past residents.
'DOM TOM' honors Tom's legacy by highlighting how today's artists push boundaries through eroticism and imagination.
'This is a momentous opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of our Artist-in-Residence Program alumni and understand the collective narratives that have been created through their artmaking activities," said Edward Cella, CEO of ToFF. 'This exhibition and the related free public programs—all happening in a landmark West Hollywood location that has long been a Queer space—showcases our organization's dedication to creating a welcoming environment for all LGBTQ+ identities, ethnicities, and backgrounds, as well as deepening the Foundation's relevance in the current moment.'
Participating artists include: Marcel Alcalá, Pol Anglada, Sam Ashby, Aurélien Nobécourt-Arras, Yinon Avoir, M Black, Tristor Blue, Rachel Britton, Rowland Byass, Tom Cho, Antonio Da Silva, Ryan Davis, James Davison, Carlos Enfedaque, Felix d'Eon, Michael Espinoza, Xiaobing Fan, Fausto, Ed Firth, Carrington Galen, FCK-Frédérick Gautier, Jordan Michael Green, Brian Grillo, Onur Hastürk, Mark Timothy Hayward, Antoni Hervás, Florian Hetz, Rinaldo Hopf, Hovvrad, Yun-Pei, Jamison Rockmore, Antti Kauppinen, Christine Kessler, Michael Kirwan, Bas Kosters, Phuc Le, Rev. Steven Johnson Leyba, David Lindert, Jacob Love, Łukasz Leja, Éamon McGivern, Konstantinos Menelaou, Mies Mikkonen, Carta Monir, Oat Montien, Orpheus, Palanca, Joel Parsons, Gio Black Peter, Brontez Purnell, Tero Puha, Stuart Sandford, Donald C. Shorter Jr., Jonathan David Smyth, Sung Hwan Bobby Park, Sweatmother, Vincent Tiley, Basil Twist, frank.xarate, Henning von Berg, Daphne Von Rey, Gray Wielebinski, Ben Youdan, and Paweł Żukowski.
ToFF artists-in-residence have a wide range of career achievements both before and after their time at TOM House. Examples include Pol Anglada, who has collaborated on capsule collections and prints with fashion brands such as Moncler, JW Anderson, Phipps, and Ami, and worked with musicians like Bad Gyal and John Carroll Kirby. He has created artwork for magazines such as Gay Letter, Butt, Têtu, Kink, and more.
Another notable ToFF artist-in-residence is Stuart Sandford, a multidisciplinary artist based between London, Los Angeles, and Mexico City. Working across various media, he has exhibited his work worldwide, notably at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and the Centre de la Photographie in Geneva. His work has appeared in numerous publications and is included in several prominent collections, including the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Photography Collection, the Ömer Koç Collection, and the Rennie Collection. Sandford is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors.
Support: Lead sponsors for FXLK PLAY include the City of West Hollywood and the John Burton Harter Foundation.
About Tom of Finland Foundation
Tom of Finland Foundation was established in 1984 to preserve Tom's vast catalog of work. Over time, the organization's mission expanded to provide a safe haven for LGBTQ+ artists in response to widespread discrimination and censorship of art that portrays sexual behavior or generates a sexual response. Today, building on its history of advocating for, and collecting artwork by, LGBTQ+ artists who draw inspiration from their sexuality, identity, and experience, ToFF champions creative expression and empowers artists to share their unique voices with the world helping to ensure that Tom's artistic legacy positively impacts current and future generations of LGBTQ+ artists. Tom of Finland Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization under California and federal law.
About Tom of Finland Foundation's Artist-in-Residence Program
Tom of Finland Foundation's A-i-R Program offers an immersive three-month experience for visiting artists at historic TOM House in Los Angeles that provides them the opportunity to cultivate their freedom of expression and engage with the Foundation's extensive collections and archives, thereby nurturing their emerging talent and building new levels of support for their artistic practices.
The Foundation's Collection
Tom of Finland Foundation is one of the largest repositories of Queer and erotic art and is frequented by academic researchers. ToFF maintains a permanent collection of over 1,000 original works by Tom and more than 8,000 additional works by 800 other LGBTQ+ artists. ToFF also has a library of 3,500 books and 400 linear feet of archives containing periodicals, film, photographs, and ephemera that documents more than a half-century of LGBTQ+ culture and history.
About Jamison Edgar
Jamison Edgar (they/them) is a Los Angeles based curator who collaborates with a range of institutions, galleries, and artist collectives. From 2021 to 2024 they served as Director at Honor Fraser and is the co-founder of DEPARTURE LOUNGE, a nomadic exhibition platform supporting overworked artists and underfunded models of cultural exchange. Edgar is simultaneously developing programming for Metabolic Studio, another LA Eastside art organization.
Edgar studied history and art at Carnegie Mellon University and creative writing at The University of Georgia. Their writing has been published by the Miller Institute for Contemporary Art, Contemporary Performance, and the Estonian Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale. They are 2023-'24 Supercollider Art+Sci Ambassadors and serve on the executive board of the New Media Caucus (NMC). Edgar's exhibitions have been featured in national publications including Artforum, Frieze, Hyperallergic, Art Papers, Art Review, Los Angeles Times and NPR.