World of Wonder’s Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato will be honored at the Tom of Finland Art & Culture Festival 2024, with the theme Art Speaks Through Us.
The two will receive the Icon Award during the three-day Los Angeles event’s awards ceremony on Dec. 1. Honorees also include Artist Hall of Fame winner Holly Johnson and Dedication Award winner Jim Neuman.
Billed as the world’s largest erotic art fair, the festival kicks off Nov. 29 at the Hotel Indigo Los Angeles Downtown and will feature more than 30 artists, galleries and vendors.
“At the milestone of our 40th anniversary, the Foundation is more focused than ever on extending Tom of Finland’s legacy by advocating for the creative freedoms of LGBTQ+ artists everywhere,” Tom of Finland CEO Edward Cella said in a statement.
For the first time, the festival is being held alongside CLAW’s Leather Thanksgiving celebration. “This year’s Tom of Finland Art & Culture Festival is lining up to be uniquely special in that we are teaming up with CLAW to offer the public more diversity in the social activities being held under one big tent at the Hotel Indigo,” Tom of Finland Foundation president and cofounder Durk Dehner said.
Sponsored by Diesel, the festival program includes conversations with artists, demonstrations and other activations as well as a sneak peek at the feature-length documentary, “House of Leather,” with director Jamison Rockmore.
Started in 1984 to promote the art of Tom of Finland (born Touko Valio Laaksonen), the Finnish artist known for his hypersexualized imagery of men with bulging muscles clad in leather and fetish gear, the foundation is housed in a 3,000-square-foot Craftsman house in Echo Park. The home was named a historic landmark by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission in 2016.
For more information on Tom of Finland Art & Culture Festival 2024, go to tomoffinland.org.
