Tom of Finland exhibit celebrates Nordic country's gay icon

A new exhibition showing the works of Touko Laaksonen, better known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland, adds a personal touch to the late Finnish artist whose homoerotic drawings of muscular men gained a following in the gay community from the 1950s.“Tom of Finland — Bold Journey,” opens Friday at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki. It features Laaksonen’s drawings, archive material, clothing as well as memorabilia, letters, and films. Laaksonen’s cheerful, sexually explicit works made an impact at a time when homosexuality was illegal or classified as a disease in countries around the world, including his native Finland. The Nordic country has since embraced the artist, who died in 1991, as a national icon.