Tom of Finland: The Complete Kake Comics

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Although Laaksonen was quite successful at this point, with his biography on the best-seller list, and Benedikt Taschen, the world's largest art book publisher reprinting and expanding a monograph of his works, he was most proud of the Foundation. The scope of the organization expanded to erotic works of all types, sponsored contests, exhibits, and started the groundwork for a museum of erotic art. A master draftsman, whose passion for both his medium and his subject matter enabled him to become a powerful cultural force, Tom gave form to an imaginative universe that in turn helped fuel real-world liberation movements and enabled gay men to access their strength in new ways.

Tom of Finland Eight Artists on the Influence of Tom of Finland

Born Touko Valio Laaksonen in Kaarina, Finland in 1920, Tom of Finland first started creating comics as a young child and in the 1930s began recording his erotic fantasies on paper. Softcore gay pornography magazines and films featuring fully nude models, some of them tumescent, quickly appeared and the pretense of being about exercise and fitness was dropped as controls on pornography were reduced.Exhibitions, both virtual and in reopened spaces, have been staged or planned in locales as far-flung as Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin and Tallinn, Estonia. This exhibition showcases the artist’s diverse material approaches to his meticulous figurations—including sharp pen and marker linework, ink washes, and delicate pencil shading—that exemplify the boldness of his vision and the virtuoso qualities of his hand.

Tom of Finland | Artnet | Page 2 Tom of Finland | Artnet | Page 2

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Eero regularly visited Laaksonen in Helsinki to pose as reference for the character. Kake is a highly sexualized, highly idealized character distinguished by his hypermasculine physical characteristics, chiefly his developed muscles and exceptionally large penis.

In September 2014 the Finnish postal service, Itella Posti, published a set of three first class stamps featuring drawings by Laaksonen and in association with the stamps' release exhibited some of his correspondence at the Finnish Postal Museum.