Iconic Queer photographer Rick Castro will be among the artists featured at the upcoming 27th Tom of Finland Art & Culture Festival – Tom Unites, presented by Tom of Finland Foundation taking place 8th – 9th October 2022.
Held concurrently in both Los Angeles and London, the Festival brings together erotic artists, vendors, performers, DJs, and galleries. The annual event is ToFF’s yearly programming effort to bring together artists, galleries and patrons from all over the globe in a socially friendly setting, so that they can network as well as buy and sell works.
Rick Castro was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Monterey Park, California. He moved to Hollywood at the age of seventeen and has lived there ever since.
Established by Durk Dehner and his friend Tom in 1984, Tom of Finland Foundation has been dedicated to protecting, preserving, and promoting the erotic arts for over three and a half decades.
Tom of Finland is the artist name of Finnish Touko Laaksonen (1920, Kaarina – 1991, Helsinki). He signed his erotic work “Tom”, and when his drawings were first published in 1957, the now world-famous “Tom of Finland” was born.
As Tom had established worldwide recognition as the master of homoerotic art, the Foundation’s original purpose was to preserve his vast catalogue of work. Several years later the scope was widened to offer a safe haven for all erotic art in response to rampant discrimination against art that portrayed sexual behavior or generated a sexual response.
Today, ToFF continues in its efforts of educating the public as to the cultural merits of erotic art and in promoting healthier, more tolerant attitudes about sexuality.
• Tom of Finland Foundation presents the
27th Tom of Finland Art & Culture Festival – Tom Unites 8th & 9th October 2022 | LOS Angeles: Second Home Hollywood, 1370 North Saint Andrews Place, Los Angeles, California 90028 | London: Second Home Spitalfields, 68 Hanbury Street, London E1 5JL
Second Home Spitalfields is located near Spitalfields Market. Nearby train stations include Shoreditch High Street, Liverpool Street, and Whitechapel. In addition, limited street parking is available.
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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