The AllTogether Clubhouse

Stompers, 1978

Photograph on paper

Unframed: 14" (35.56 cm) x 11" (27.94 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

A.J. EPSTEIN

(American, b. 1949)

Andrew J. Epstein is a photographer and artist. Since the late-1960s, he photographed LGBTQ communities and events. He has also worked as an art director and graphic designer for numerous publications. He was part of the show at Stompers in 1978 with Tom of Finland and Etienne and became Tom’s “favorite young gay artist”. He is an ToFF Honorary Board Member.

Club 69 - X-Rated, 2000

Photograph on paper

Framed: 24.25" (61.60 cm) x 20.25” (51.50 cm) x 1" (2.6 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

AARON COBBETT

(American, b. 1972)

Starting in the late 1980s, Cobbett worked as a window dresser by day and documented the thriving East Village drag scene by night. Moving freely between textiles, video, installation and photography, his work is characterized by high craft, deadpan wit and harsh glamor. He lives and works in Brooklyn.

Kent in Hiding. NY, 1990

Gelatin silver print on paper

Unframed: 11" (27.94 cm) x 14" (35.56 cm)

Framed: 21" (53.34 cm) x 17" (43.18 cm) x 0.63" (1.60 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

ARTHUR TRESS

(American, b. 1940)

As a Gay man he used this skill and focused it on gay desire and appreciation for men. Tress captured with his shutter dicks and desire and the decadence of the gay male body. His photography paved the way for homoerotic photographers. His first one-man show was at the Robert Samuel Gallery in the West Village. In 2017, he received the ToFF Lifetime Achievement Award.

Chain Gang, 1989

Cut and pasted paper on paper

Framed: 17.5" (44.5 cm) x 15.5" (39.4 cm) x 0.75" (2 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

BONE BOYZ

(American, b. 1959)

From Brooklyn, Kenny Graziano was at the top of his class at Lafayette High School and into music and musical theater. Later he studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology. “My life has been a kaleidoscope - art, photography, design - all and everything that is a visual orgy.”

Poster for the New St. Marks Baths, NYC c. 1980

Mounted offset lithograph poster on paper

Unframed: 40" (101.6 cm) x 26.5" (67.31 cm) x 0.19" (0.48 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

BORIS VALLEJO

(Peruvian-American, b. 1941)

Boris Vallejo is known worldwide for his fantasy, science-fiction, and erotic paintings. The St. Marks Baths opened in NYC’s East Village in 1913. Refurbished and rechristened the New St. Marks Baths in 1979, it closed its doors in 1985 as a result of the New York City Department of Health’s crackdown on bathhouses with the advent of AIDS.

Untitled, 2002

Mat-board

Framed: 21.25" (54 cm) x 17.13" (43.47 cm) x 1.5" (3.9 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

BRIAN CREDE

(American, b. 1952)

Originally from New York. During his academic years, Crede explored graphic design, enameling, glassblowing, airbrushing, and photography. His work shows his fascination for paper and three-dimensional art. He founded his own graphic design studio in 1978. He was a ToF Art Festival participant.

Untitled (Durk Dehner), 1976

Photograph on paper

Unframed: 14" (35.56 cm) x 11" (27.94 cm)

Framed: 20.13" (51.13 cm) x 16.13" (40.97 cm) x 1" (2.54 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

BRUCE WEBER

(American, b. 1946)

He began taking headshots after transferring to NYU in 1966 and subsequently attained international acclaim for his fashion photography. He has produced notable campaigns for major designers; his work has been extensively featured in GQ, Vogue, and Interview. Weber currently lives in NYC and Miami.

After Dark: The National Magazine of Entertainment. Volume 5, issue 12. (Rod McKuen on cover), 1973

Periodical on paper

Unframed: 14" (35.56 cm) x 8.5" (21.59 cm) x 0.19" (0.48 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

AFTER DARK

The magazine was based in New York City, published by Danad Publishing Company, Inc, and founded in 1968 by its first editor, William Como. It covered theater, cinema, ballet, performance art, and various artists. Although not described as a "gay magazine", it provided a level of homoeroticism by regularly using images of partially nude men. 

ROD MCKUEN, shown on this cover, was the recipient of the 2006 Tom of Finland Foundation Cultural Icon award.

One of the best-selling poets in the US during the late 1960s. He appeared regularly at New York's Carnegie Hall. McKuen never publicly identified with a particular sexual orientation; however he was active in the LGBT rights movement, and was a member of the Mattachine Society, one of the nation's earliest LGBT advocacy organizations.

Untitled (Commission for Honcho cover), 1996

Unique vintage silver bromide fiber print on paper

Unframed: 22.38" (57 cm) x 18.13" (46.1 cm) x 1" (2.6 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

DANIEL PERRY

(American, b. 1958)

His photographs have been exhibited in more than thirty five invitational and solo gallery shows. Perry obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography. In pursuit of his art, he migrated to New York. From the fashion, film and music industries, he has photographed numerous accomplished personalities and has contributed to major magazines. He was a ToF Art Festival participant.

Butch. Issue 1, 1965

Periodical on paper

Unframed: 8" (20.32 cm) x 5" (12.7 cm) x 0.19” (0.48 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

BUTCH

The magazine was founded by Lloyd Spinar and Conrad Germain in 1965. Two years later their publishing company, Directory Services, Inc., had become the largest gay-owned, gay-oriented business in the world. Butch featured full-frontal nudes of men, catered explicitly to a gay audience, and in a landmark legal battle in 1967 was found not guilty for publishing obscene imagery.

Fire Eaters. 1977

Print on paper

Unframed: 14" (35.56 cm) x 11" (27.94 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

DOMINO

(American, b. 1920 d. 1990)

Under his birth name, Donald Merrick, he spent years teaching about the visual arts at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. Privately, he was hard at work dreaming up his erotic fantasies. It was not until after his divorce from his wife that the artist exposed Domino to the rest of the world. He sought to create working men as objects of desire. Domino’s debut exhibition was mounted at Stompers in 1978, Domino: Original Drawings and Prints.

Love & Lust (Image - Man Lust, New York City), 2004

Book

Unframed: 9.38" (23.83 cm) x 6.75" (17.15 cm) x 0.81" (2.06 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

DONNA FERRATO

(American, b. 1949)

An acclaimed photojournalist, her work has appeared in exhibitions and publications. In 1979, Ferrato moved to New York City, where she began photographing in sex clubs and nightclubs, documenting the nightlife culture of that era. Her book, Love and Lust, is a provocative look at human intimacy.

Untitled, 1978

Graphite on paper

Framed: 25" (63.5 cm) x 20.88" (53.2 cm) x 1.25" (3.18 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

ETIENNE 

(American, b. 1933 d. 1991)

Domingo Francisco Juan Esteban “Dom” Orejudos, Secundo known by the artist names Etienne and Stephen, was an openly gay artist. He also was a ballet dancer and choreographer. He is best known for his ground-breaking masculine gay male erotica beginning in the 1950s.

Adventures in Capitalism, 2023

Colored pencil on paper

Unframed: 19” (48.26 cm) x 20” (50.8 cm)

Courtesy of the artist

GIO BLACK PETER

(Guatemalan, b. 1979)

Gio Black Peter is a multimedia artist and performer based in New York City. Peter's paintings include scenes of sex, violence, nature and art-world pretense; his work often depicts the decadent lifestyle of young New York City artists and their social circle. He is Summer 2019 Artist-in-Residence and ToF Art Festival participant.

Leather!, 1965

Periodical on paper

Unframed: 8.75" (22.23 cm) x 5.25" (13.34 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

GUILD BOOK SERVICE

A mail-order business founded by H. Lynn Womack in 1964 with the goal of highlighting “gay titles” for a “gay reading public.” Womack extensively published physique magazines, literature, and erotic fiction under various imprints, including Guild Press and the Grecian Guild. He fought obscenity charges throughout his career. 

Saturn III, 2022 

Acrylic, flashe, gouache on canvas 

Unframed: 54” (137.16 cm) x 48” (121.92 cm) x 1” (2.54 cm)

Courtesy of the artist

HEATHER BENJAMIN

(American, b. 1989)

Born, lives and works in New York. Benjamin received her BFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design. She began her career by self-publishing zines and prints of her drawings, and now primarily makes drawings and paintings on paper and canvas. She took part in the 2019 ToFF Heaven and Hell and 2019 ToFF Hard Sweat exhibitions. 

The Darling Angel Twins, 2001

Iris print on paper

Framed: 29" (73.66 cm) x 10.25" (26.04 cm) x 1.5" (3.81 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

JOHN JOHN JESSE

(American, b. 1950)

John John Jesse came up in the Lower East Side punk scene, co-founding the band Nausea and producing flyers and album art for bands. In the ensuing years he developed a distinctive style of painting shot through with grit, fantasy, and eroticism. His work has been exhibited with Opera Gallery NYC, Art @ Large, and Museum of Sex. He was a ToFF Erotic Gallery by Mail artist.

Pier Painting (after Piero), 1984

Oil on canvas

Unframed: 16” (40.64 cm) x 12” (30.48 cm)

Courtesy of the artist

JONATHAN WEINBERG

(American, b. 1957)

Jonathan Weinberg, Ph.D. is a painter, art historian and curator. He is Curator of the Maurice Sendak Foundation. He is the author of several books including Pier Groups: Art and Sex Along the New York Waterfront and Ambition and Love in American Art. He was the lead curator of the groundbreaking 2019 touring exhibition, Art After Stonewall, 1969-89 and the 2023-24 touring exhibition, Wild Things Are Happening: The Art of Maurice Sendak and editor of both of their catalogs. In 2022 his GENESIS paintings and prints were on view at New Haven’s Ely Center of Contemporary Art.

Justice Howard: Various works Various

Prints in binder

Unframed: 11.75" (29.85 cm) x 10.38" (26.37 cm) x 2.13" (5.41c m)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

JUSTICE HOWARD

(American, b. 1950)

The photographer began her career in front of the camera as a model before she ventured behind the lens. She’s garnered nationwide acclaim for her starkly erotic style of capturing the female form on film. Her work has been featured in art galleries around the country including the Neikrug Gallery in Manhattan.

Thugs, 2003

Markers on paper

Unframed: 14" (35.6cm) x 14" (35.6cm)

Framed: 18.5" (47cm) x 18.5" (47cm) x 2.5" (6.4cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

MICHAEL KIRWAN

(American, b. 1953 d. 2018)

Born in New York, his works have been published in over 650 magazines, exhibited around the world, and collected by discerning buyers. Rather than glorify sex or glamorize people, Michael’s intent was to draw arousing interactions enjoyed by the everyday, regular people he would encounter. In 2004, he was inducted in the ToFF Artist Hall of Fame.

Posing Pumped and Pissed (From "Erotic Alphabet Cards" series), 2004

Inkjet print on paper

Unframed: 5.5" (14cm) x 4.125" (10.5cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

MICHAEL MITCHELL

(American, b. 1952)

Mitchell has drawn all his life and has been doing figure drawing since high school. He has worked as a storyboard illustrator for ad agencies in New York City. He currently is doing drawings and paintings of the male figure and his work has appeared in Hardjobs magazine.

Untitled (George Quaintance on stage), c. 1925

Photoprint on paper

Unframed: 11" (27.94 cm) x 8.5" (21.59 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

NASIB

A photography studio that specialized in photos of dancers and performers in NYC in the 1920s.

Untitled, 1989

Photograph on paper

Framed: 20.25" (51.44 cm) x 16.25" (41.28 cm) x 1.25" (3.18 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

NEIL POLEN

(American, b. 1945 d. 1997)

A longtime resident of the Chelsea Hotel. He was a photographer of BDSM scenes and its practitioners. His street photography is archived in the Fales Library Downtown Collection. His XXX-rated material was archived with Sur Rodney, Polen's associate and sometimes collaborator.

Blue Dot, 1997

Laser transfer with acrylic on canvas

Unframed: 32" (81.3 cm) x 30" (76.2 cm) x 0.75" (1.91 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

PET SILVIA

(American, b. 1953 d. 2022)

Silvia started out in the early 1970s as an Avant Garde performer working in cabaret venues. By the late '70s, he was drawing underground cartoons as part of the Newave Movement. He used gender issues as the basis of much of his art. Silvia was the founder of Art @ Large Gallery in New York City. He was a ToF Art Festival participant.

QQ MAGAZINE For Gay Guys. Volume 4, issue 5. (Tom of Finland - Hang Up), 1972

Periodical on paper

Unframed: 11" (27.94 cm) x 8.5" (21.59 cm) x 0.19" (0.48 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

QQ PUBLISHING CO., INC.

A national, bimonthly, lifestyle magazine, 1969 – c. 1982, from Queen's Quarterly Publishing Company in New York City. It started as Queens Quarterly and used the motto: “For Gay guys who have no hangups”. Its editor was Frank Keating. 

Leather Bar (That One Next), 1978

Ink on paper

Unframed: 13.5" (34.3 cm) x 17.13" (43.5 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

REX

(American, b. 1947)

He began producing homoerotica in the 1960s and became one of the leading figures visualizing the fetish subculture of NYC. The raw sexual energy of REX's early drawings resonated with a leather scene that was emerging in Greenwich Village, Chelsea and the meatpacking district. In 2017, he was inducted into the ToFF Artist Hall of Fame.

Quentin Crisp, New York, 1995

Photograph on paper

Unframed: 40" (101.6c m) x 26" (66.1 cm)

Framed: 42.75" (108.6 cm) x 30.75" (78.2 cm) x 1.38" (3.7 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

RINALDO HOPF

(German, b. 1955)

He lives as an artist, curator, and editor between Berlin, Freiburg, and Tuscany. Since 2005 he has been the co-editor of the annual anthology My Gay Eye. His work has been exhibited in New York City, Los Angeles, Madrid and Berlin. He was a 2020 ToFF Artist-in-Residence.

Untitled, c. 2004

Giclee print on paper

Unframed: 10.5" (26.7 cm) x 8.5" (21.6 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

ROB CLARKE

(American, b. 1964)

As a day job in New York, Clarke works as illustrator and animator for educational software. In his artwork, he pokes fun at masculine ideals and his own sexual obsessions. He has exhibited work in the US and Canada since the early 1990s and has had work published in porn magazines and anthologies of erotic artists. He was a ToF Art Festival participant.

Untitled, 1997

Photograph on paper

Unframed: 11" (28 cm) x 14" (35.6 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

ROBERT DEREK

N/A

Leather Hell, 2021

Mixed threads on canvas

Framed: 22.5” (57.15 cm) x 22.5” (57.15 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

SAL SALANDRA

(Italian-American, b. 1945)

A self taught artist who creates primarily homoerotic work. Salandra studied to become a priest, however because of his severe dyslexia, he gave this up and instead became a hairdresser. He sketches and creates paintings, sewing with threads as the paint. In 1993, he relocated to East Hampton from the West Village.

Slow kissing, 2019

Pencil on paper 

Courtesy of the artist

SILVIA PRADA

(Spanish, b. 1969)

A New York based artist whose figurative handmade drawings celebrate gay iconography and popular culture. Prada started her career collaborating with some of the most influential international magazines, Dazed & Confused, Interview and The Face. Her works have been showcased in museums, art fairs and galleries worldwide.

Luis & Rahm, Riis Beach, 2019 

Digital print on sarga

Unframed: 26" (66.04 cm) x 40" (101.6cm)

Edition of 5 

Courtesy of the artist

SLAVA MOGUTIN

(Russian-American, b. 1974)

Born in Siberia, Mogutin is a New York-based multimedia artist and author exiled from Russia for his outspoken queer writing and activism. He became the first to be granted political asylum in the US on the grounds of homophobic persecution. He's the winner of Andrei Bely Prize for poetry and the Tom of Finland Foundation Achievement Award.

Dada 004, 1994

Photograph

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

STANLEY STELLAR

(American, b. 1945)

A Brooklyn native, Stellar was educated at Parsons School of Design where he focused on graphic design and photography. His photography has been exhibited in galleries in the U.S. and Europe, presented and discussed in over a dozen anthologies, and featured on the covers of 26 international magazines. He was a ToF Art Festival participant.

Domino Stompers Set Two, 1979

Print portfolio on paper

Unframed: 14.5" (36.83 cm) x 11.5" (29.21 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

STOMPERS

In the front, it was a boot store, and in the back, an art gallery. Owned by Louis Weingarden in Greenwich Village, it was a key player in legitimizing gay male art and promoting images of the leather community. It was frequented by talented Manhattan personalities. LOUIS “LOUIE” WEINGARDEN was the owner of Stompers. He was an accomplished pianist and award-winning composer who organized SMASH (Society to Make America Safe for Homosexuals). Weingarden died of AIDS in Manhattan in 1989. 

S.T.H. (STRAIGHT TO HELL): The Manhattan Review of Unnatural ` Acts. Issue 52, 1983

Periodical on paper

Unframed: 8.38" (21.29 cm) x 5.38" (13.67 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

STRAIGHT TO HELL

In the early 1970s, Boyd McDonald, while living in the Upper West Side, founded his zine, Straight to Hell (S.T.H.). It became an influential publication in New York City's arts and culture scene and included real life stories submitted by anonymous contributors. Billy Miller became editor of S.T.H. in 1989.

Untitled (Prince Pretty), 1975

Graphite and markers on vellum

Framed: 22.25" (56.52 cm) x 20" (50.8 cm) x 1" (2.6 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

SULTAN

(Briton, b. 1923 d. 2003)

Born John Darcy Noble. He was an early activist in the early gay rights movement in New York in the ’60s. Noble assisted Robert Clement in founding the first church to outreach to the gay and lesbian communities in New York. He is known for pioneering work as a Curator of dolls and toys at the Museum of the City of New York. The library at TOM House, Sultan’s Salon, is named after the artist.

R Mutt, 2020

Oil on board

Unframed: 5" (12.7 cm) x 3.25" (8.3 cm) x 0.13" (0.5 cm)

Framed: 8.75" (22.3 cm) x 5.25" (13.4 cm) x 1" (2.6 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

SUZANNE SHIFFLETT

(American, b. 1965)

An academically trained painter and a tattoo artist, her work depicts gender non-conformity and aims to represent experience, people, communities that are all but invisible in our society. Shifflett seeks to express that which has little to no language, that is ignored in society, in law, in our community and in our art. In 2021, she received the ToFF Lifetime Achievement Award.

Untitled (Durk Dehner), 1976

Photograph on paper

Unframed: 10" (25.4 cm) x 8" (20.32 cm)

Framed: 15.38" (39.07 cm) x 12.38" (31.45 cm) x 0.75" (2 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

TARGET STUDIOS

(American, b. N/A)

Photographer and filmmaker Lou Thomas founded Target Studios in the early 1970s. His aesthetic tended toward the mustachioed leather daddy model that pervaded gay male culture throughout the ’70s. He was dedicated to dramatizing masculine-identified men.

Untitled (From Kake vol. 07 - Tea Room Odyssey), 1970

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

TOM OF FINLAND

(Finnish, b. 1920 d.1991)

Tom of Finland (born Touko Laaksonen) is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's most influential artists for his groundbreaking representation of the male figure. Tom gave form to an imaginative universe that helped fuel realworld liberation movements and enabled gay men to access their strength in new ways.

Untitled, c. 1975

Acrylic on canvas

Unframed: 24" (61 cm) x 30" (76.2 cm) x 0.75" (1.91 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

TONY CHARMOLI

(American, b. 1921 d. 2020)

Tony Charmoli was a dancer, director, and three-time Emmy Award-winning choreographer. He worked extensively on Broadway and in television. Charmoli painted throughout his life and his work has been collected by many. When he was 17, Charmoli met Wilford Saunders and he remained his life partner until his death in 1999.

Untitled, c. 1960

Photograph on paper

Unframed: 8" (20.32 cm) x 10" (25.4 cm)

Courtesy of Tom of Finland Foundation

VULCAN STUDIOS

(Cuban, b. 1921 d. 2017)

Anthony Guyther worked as a photographer and became successful under the name Vulcan. He came to the United States at the age of three. After being discharged from the Army, he returned to New York City working in the layout and advertising departments of publishers.