Tom of Finland Foundation to Move, Citing Fire Risk
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| Tom of Finland Foundation |
Los Angeles magazine reports that the Tom of Finland Foundation plans to move its headquarters and collection storage from its Echo Park home, citing the neighborhood's fire risk. The home at 1421 Laveta Terrace is in a "very high" fire hazard zone on Cal Fire's redrawn map.
Touko Laaksonen (1920-1991) adopted the name "Tom of Finland" for his homoerotic drawings of leather daddies. Though he described himself as a pornographer, Tom's work was collected by Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe, and John Waters and, later, by MOCA and MoMA. The Tom of Finland Foundation contains over 8000 LGBTQ artworks plus a reference library.
The Foundation is also a house museum of sorts, preserving the 1911 Craftsman home where Tom created much of his art and hosting a guest artist residency. Tom did not own the house, however. Foundation CEO Edward Cella said the organization hopes to acquire the home and preserve it as a "living museum."
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| Tom of Finland, Untitled (Study), about 1968. Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, gift of Tom of Finland Foundation |
Comments
I watched a documentary on ancient Rome and it concluded that city (at least its structures) through the centuries had been impacted more by a history of quakes than the political-economic turmoil of war, looting, pillaging or marauders like the Vandals. Or course a Rome, London, Chicago or San Francisco has witnessed great fires through the eons too.
Meanwhile, LA is also currently seeing a bit of political-economic turmoil. Its city government a few months ago didn't exactly show a lot of finesse in preparing for (or preventing) devastation, and some of its core businesses or industries aren't in the best of shape.