Feature Inc.
presents:
Tom of Finland and Then Some
A Group Showing

TOM OF FINLAND (Finnish, 1920 – 1991),
Untitled, 1988, Graphite on paper,
ToFF #1015, © 2010 Tom of Finland Foundation

Opening Reception: Friday, June 25, 6:00 - 9:00 PM

In cooperation with the Tom of Finland Foundation,
sketches and drawings by Tom of Finland...

AND THEN SOME!

Partnering Tom of Finland is imagery by a number of other contemporary artists who frequently use sexual imagery in their work. The range is wide, tho less poser/genital display and more twist.

Richard Kern, Judy Linn, Bastille, Jerry Phillips, Martin of Holland,
Joe Brainard, Fred Esher, Larry Clark, Robert W. Richards and Brian Kenny,
Sean Landers, Richard Prince, Robert Fontanelli, GB Jones,
Jeff Burton, Mie Yim, Raymond Pettibon, Catherine Opie, Carl Ferrero,
Kevin Larmon, Jared Buckhiester, Judy Rifka, Jeffrey Pittu, Scooter Laforge,
Tyler Ingolia, David Frye, The Hun, Kinke Kooi, Juan Gomez,
Rex, Gengoroh Tagame.

Sketches from the archive of the legendary Tom of Finland will once again - its easily been ten or so years - hang on the walls of Feature Inc. Tom of Finland, the artist who took masculine to macho and big to XXXlarge, clocked the butch gay clone phenomenon at its onset and blew it out. His super hung studs, with more t&a than any cheesecaker could aspire to, are packed for action yet also deliver knowing glances and looks that are full of the camaraderie and humor that his vision of a utopian man to man culture was based on.

Tom of Finland, Touko Laaksonen by birth, was born on the south coast of Finland on May 8, 1920. He trained and worked in design and advertising and in 1973, left his job to work full time on his drawings. Between 1978 and 1988, Tom of Finland split his time between Helsinki and Los Angeles; he died of an emphysema-induced stroke on November 7, 1991. This exhibition is made in cooperation with the Los Angeles based Tom of Finland Foundation.

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Feature Inc. is a contemporary art gallery exhibiting painting, drawing, photography and sculpture by established and emerging American and international artists in New York City since 1988.

Feature opened on April Fool’s Day 1984, in a second floor space at 340 West Huron St., Chicago. In August 1988, the gallery moved to NYC and opened in October at 484 Broome St. Soon after the move, the 340 W. Huron building burned to the ground; Feature escaped just in time. Feature relocated to 76 Greene St. in September 1993, and became Feature Inc. in January 1994. The move to 530 W. 25 St. occurred in October 1999. At all the aforementioned locations, Feature contained two or more exhibition spaces, so that several exhibitions could be presented simultaneously.

Feature Inc. reincarnated in September 2008 at 276 Bowery, delighted to be back downtown, however two days after opening the crash happened and life there was short lived.

Mid-December 2009, Feature reopened in its sixth space at 131 Allen St., still on the lower east side. For the first time in all its lives, Feature has only one exhibition space. There is as well a wall painting program for the interior wall of the entrance to the building. Life goes on.

Feature Inc.
June 25, 26, 27, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 12 - 6 PM
June 29 - July 31, Tuesday - Saturday 12 - 6 PM
Closed July 4 - 10
131 Allen Street, New York, NY 10002 · MAP · 212.675.7772
Feature Inc. Website