For the first time, a major new exhibition brings together the work of two cultural icons: Beryl Cooke and Tom of Finland. At Studio Voltaire, their work explores physical excess in a combination that emphasizes playfulness and politics.
Beryl Cooke (born 1926 – died 2008) was a painter known for her vibrant style and depictions of everyday life. Her work recorded the social environment of the areas she lived and visited, particularly Plymouth. Her most enduring images are raw, colorful depictions of large women carousing in nightclubs, dining in cafes and enjoying sleazy hen parties. Her work with Cooke came to her attention in the mid-1970s, and she soon became known as one of Britain’s best-loved artists, with her celebratory and provocative works. His unique work was highly praised.
Tom of Finland (b. 1920 – d. 1991) pioneered depictions of gay masculinity with images of bikers, cowboys, laborers, uniformed soldiers and sailors, and expressed interest in queer, leather, and muscle communities. was widely expressed. A master draftsman, his works created imaginative worlds that promoted real-world liberation movements and had a major influence on a wide range of cultural figures, including the Village People, Freddie Mercury, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Robert. I gave it. Mapplethorpe.
Beryl Cooke/Tom of Finland brings into sharp focus the interconnected ideas surrounding gender, sexuality, taste, and class. Both artists have a clear and consistent way of hyperrealizing the body in images that fundamentally celebrate pleasure and deny shame. Tom of Finland’s depictions of gay men proudly enjoying their sexuality redefined and deconstructed conventions of masculinity. His work, although exemplified by a highly coded visual language, radiated joy and vitality. Cooke’s paintings, once described by the famous British comedian Victoria Wood as “a Rubens with a joke,” are often tasteful and campy, but are born of keenly observed social interactions. The women in her work are not caricatures, but rather complex, vivid, and completely believable portraits that dominate the pictorial space.
The exhibition includes a rich archive of materials never before seen by the public, including fan letters, preparatory sketches, source photographs, early publications and merchandise revealing their working process. Both artists had their first solo exhibitions in the 1970s. However, their audiences increasingly encountered their work outside the gallery and museum system.
Artists engaged directly with their audiences, developed devoted and enduring fans, and subsequently influenced broader popular culture. Finnish Tom first published his work in “fitness” magazines, the archetype of porn, and through his secret but extensive network of friends and followers. Cooke’s practice has been widely reproduced on postcards, calendars, and prints, and her work has been delivered to the homes of thousands of fans. Many of Cooke’s original paintings are in her personal collection, but limited records of their whereabouts currently exist. Studio Voltaire welcomes anyone who owns an original painting and is interested in loaning it for an exhibition, especially Cooke’s unique depiction of a confident, rebellious, and cheerful woman. We look forward to hearing from you.
This exhibition is a collaboration between the Tom of Finland Foundation and Beryl Cooke’s family.
When Joe Scotland, director of Studio Voltaire, first proposed this exhibition combining Beryl Cooke and Tom of Finland, we (Beryl Cooke’s family) thought about how the artists interacted with each other. I wasn’t sure if they complemented each other, but I quickly realized that their work had a lot in common.
During her lifetime, Beryl’s closest friends were members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and it was these friends who encouraged and supported her. She was primarily interested in drawing people, socializing, and having fun, and so was Tom. They both have great senses of humor.
Beryl was very happy to hear about this exhibition and I’m sure she enjoyed it immensely, and so do we.
Sophie Howe, granddaughter of Beryl Cook;
What do you say about Finland’s Beryl Cooke and Tom being paired together in an exhibition? They’ll be smiling and delighted. Both artists freely explored and indulged in the sensual exploration of the body. As Tom said, “Dick size doesn’t matter to me. It wasn’t until the censors allowed magazines to publish full-on nudes that I started dealing with huge penises. It’s not something that can be expressed in a photo. I had to come up with stuff. I mean, all those big dicks are for other guys — I’m an ass guy myself.
Dirk Denner, co-founder of the Tom of Finland Foundation, said:
About the artist
Beryl Cook Beryl Francis Lansley was born in Surrey, England in 1926. She is one of four sisters. She left school at the age of 14 and worked in the fashion industry, which influenced her lifelong interest in how people dress and look. .
In 1943, Cooke moved to London and became a showgirl in a touring production of “The Gypsy Princess.” She married John Cooke and in the 1960s she lived in Southern Rhodesia and then Zambia. It was here that Cooke first began painting, where she experimented with the figurative style of Stanley Spencer. Beryl started painting in earnest when she was 40 years old. She held her first exhibition at Plymouth Arts Center in 1975. Within a few years, she became well known through her exhibitions, television appearances, and the publication of her first of several collections of her works.
Her work is currently held in collections including the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art, Bristol City Art Gallery Gallery and Plymouth City Art Gallery. The artist held her retrospective exhibition at the Baltic Center for Contemporary Art in Gateshead (2007). Plymouth City Art Gallery, Plymouth (2017). and her AHFTAW, New York (2022).
Touko Vario Laaksonen was born in Kaarina, Finland in 1920. tom from finland Although he trained at advertising school, what he called his “dirty drawings,” which he first began developing as a teenager, remained his truest form, both during these formative years and throughout his life. It was the focus of attention. These stunning representations of virile men absorbed in acts of homosexual desire can be approached along several lines of interpretation: art historical, social, and technical; Each demonstrates the revolutionary nature of his project. Signing his work “Tom”, he was later given the nickname “Tom of Finland” by Bob Mizer, who published Tom’s drawings in the influential magazine Physique Pictorial.
Although previously somewhat discounted as solely a homosexual interest, recent years have seen a significant reappraisal of his artistic practice. Since then, his work has been exhibited in galleries and public institutions, including the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Finland (2023). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2019). Artist Space, New York (2015). and ICA, London (2013). It is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
The foundation is represented by the Tom of Finland Foundation, a registered charitable foundation based in Los Angeles. David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles/New York. and Galerie Judin (Berlin).
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