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Tom of Finland’s Death Anniversary Week Celebration, November 7 – 13, 2022 @dollphotostudio
The works of Touko Valio Laaksonen (May 8, 1920 – November 7, 1991), otherwise known as Tom of Finland, have had a massive influence on my own art’s aesthetic and fetishes.
I discovered Tom’s art when I was a teen. It was the dawn of the Internet, and I was sitting in the dark in my childhood home in Jakarta, Indonesia, surfing the web for gay porn. The computer was in the TV room and as my family was asleep, I’d creep downstairs, turn on the PC, connect to dial-up (!), and tell every adult website that I was “eighteen or older.”
One night, in a sea of nude male celebrities, Jean-Daniel Cadinot, and Ken Ryker, Kake appeared. He was clad in a shiny black jacket, shiny black pants, and shiny black boots, and I couldn’t get enough of him.
Kake is sex personified. His smirk is the Monalisa smile. His physique is like that of an elongated Greek god who occasionally shoots steroids. And his cock, well, let’s just say he puts Ken Ryker’s eleven-inch tool to shame.
Kake led me to a realm inhabited by Jack of the Jungle, Dick the soccer star, Ringo and the Renegades, Mike the blond leather stud, as well as other nameless, sexy men with unrealistic bubble butts, round pecs, tiny waists, and gigantic schlongs contained in impossibly tight clothes that always seem to be on the verge of bursting.
Standing (left to right): Gar, Rebel, Hiro, Sven; sitting: Chrissy. Rebel was graciously lent for the shoot by the Tom of Finland Foundation team.
Tom became my portal to other gay erotic artists, such as Dom Orejudos (Etienne/ Stephen), Marc Debauch, George Quaintance, John Klamik (Sean), Belasco, Julius, Ralf König, and Gerard P. Donelan.
Thus, from November 7 to 13, 2022, to celebrate Tom’s death anniversary and his legacy, Toy Photo Studio will share images of our cast of sixth-scale figures in various poses and settings inspired by Tom’s work, including at the Tom of Finland Foundation (TOM House) in Los Angeles.
These figures are produced by Phicen Limited, a company based in China. The bodies have a ball-jointed steel skeleton encased in an almost seamless silicone layer (meaning no visible joints). Each body has up to 28 points of articulation as well as detachable hands, feet, and penises.
As articulated and realistic as these figures are, they still have a limited range of motion. The doll’s frozen facial expression is also another challenge.
Nowadays, there are apps that can tweak the expression, but I never use them. I do as little post-manipulation as possible and focus on working within the boundaries by figuring out the lighting, the angles, and the poses before and during the shoot.
Lastly, If you ever find yourself in Los Angeles, I’d encourage you to ditch West Hollywood and instead tour the TOM House for a glimpse into the life of the world’s most famous gay erotic artist (after Michelangelo, obviously).
More Tom of Finland Posts:
Dollsexposed showcases queer erotica, kink, fetish, and activism through twelve-inch doll photography. Their adventures in the doll world began in 2011 before establishing a home on dollsexposed.com eleven years later.
Dollsexposed's works have been displayed at Seattle Erotic Art Festival and Los Angeles Leather Getaway.