I’ve always sort of lived by this idea that hard work is good work,’ he told Extra.
‘I really enjoyed it, but then again, the show did break me.
Rumors about his private life and sexuality were a frequent issue throughout his 80s heyday, with no obvious basis.
Key for Selleck’s representation was the need to prove that the article damaged his ability to work in the entertainment industry, an incredibly difficult task.
The $20-million lawsuit was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum and the Globe continues to be published today. Today, the foundation is committed to educating the public on the cultural merits of erotic art and promoting more inclusive and tolerant attitudes towards sexuality.
(Image credit: Marko MacPherson)
And the show doesn’t end on the gallery walls.
They were forced to print a clarification of the article, stating that ‘the Globe did not intend to express or imply that Tom Selleck is or ever was a homosexual’.
Selleck’s stern response to the Globe’s article led many to believe that, rather than being homosexual, he was anti-gay.
They might have been motivated by his macho image and supposed conservative politics, though Selleck himself has stated that he is a ‘registered independent lots of libertarian views.’
New York Placards
In the 80s and early 90s, Selleck had an ongoing feud with the Globe (not to be confused with the Boston Globe), a supermarket tabloid that repeatedly made allusions regarding the actor’s sexuality.
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Among the photographs are portraits of friends and partners – including those Tom of Finland and Robert Mapplethorpe took of each other – that were confined to his home studio and darkroom for years, with much of the correspondence between the artist and his subjects destroyed due to the illegality of homosexuality at the time.
There did come a time where I was sort of like, “I need to have a break,” I disappeared.’
The Crowded Room is available to stream on Apple TV.
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He adopted Ray’s son, Kevin, and has a daughter with Mack, Hannah.
He reached the height of his fame in the 80s, playing the titular Thomas Magnum in “Magnum, P.I.” but has recently enjoyed a career resurgence as Frank Reagan in “Blue Bloods”. He wanted men to grow up healthy and strong – in body and mind.
He went on to state that he was obviously ‘singularly heterosexual’ and made reference to his marriages and children.
The situation came to a head in 1991 when placards with the faces of celebrities were placed around New York City as part of a gay rights campaign.
Among these stars was Selleck, with the words “absolutely queer” written beneath his picture.
To have practiced this process in plain sight would have risked a prison sentence.
(Image credit: Marko MacPherson)
(Image credit: Marko MacPherson)
‘Being aware of what society had denied homosexuals, Tom went about creating the archetype of masculine homosexuals who participate freely together in sex – a decree from Nature herself, says Durk Dehner, president and co-founder of the Tom of Finland Foundation, created in 1984.
It is also a potent symbol for the confinement and persecution of LGBTQ+ people that many continue to face.
The show is a portrait of an artist who offered those who saw his work the confidence to live with pride, grab oppression by the horns, and walk, with zest, out from the darkroom.
(Image credit: Marko MacPherson)
(Image credit: Marko MacPherson)
(Image credit: Marko MacPherson)
(Image credit: Marko MacPherson)
(Image credit: Marko MacPherson)
(Image credit: Marko MacPherson)
(Image credit: Marko MacPherson)
(Image credit: Marko MacPherson)
INFORMATION Tom of Finland: ’The Darkroom’, until 20 August, 2021, Fotografiska New York. fotografiska.com tomoffinland.org
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Harriet Lloyd-Smith was the Arts Editor of Wallpaper*, responsible for the art pages across digital and print, including profiles, exhibition reviews, and contemporary art collaborations.
The trailblazing cultural icon (born Touko Laaksonen, 1920-1991), created work that simultaneously dropped jaws, squared up to the stagnant views of 20th-century society, and sang an ode to queer liberation.
In his heroic homoerotic drawings – starring hyper-masculine hunks, clad in uniforms or leather gear, all bulging muscles and members – he fearlessly confronted a system that denied freedom, legality, and basic rights to the gay community.
(Image credit: Marko MacPherson)
To mark the artist’s centenary, Fotografiska in collaboration with the Tom of Finland Foundation produced ‘The Darkroom’, a deep-dive into the artist's life and work.
Now on view at Fotografiska’s New York outpost, the show offers an intimate view of a little-known, and forcibly concealed, facet of Tom of Finland’s process: his reference photography.
‘The Darkroom’ consists of never-before-exhibited portraits captured as source material for Tom of Finland’s famed drawings.
‘Men knew instinctively that Tom drew with them in mind. It now seeks to offer a haven for all erotic art against rampant discrimination.
Selleck also intended to sue any identifiable members of Outpost but their anonymity made this a far more difficult task.
Suing the Globe
The Globe newspaper published photos of several of the placards under the headline “‘Gay’ Stars Stop Traffic”.
Selleck’s representation asserted that the Globe had reprinted slander in an attempt to damage his professional and personal life, while the Globe claimed that they were simply reporting a factual story about the placards.
Selleck released a statement that he was ‘as proud of [his] sexual preference as those who happen to be gay are of theirs’.
I’m no stranger to hard work. The team have now taken their Tom of Finland TAME and XXX designs up a gear, creating an exclusive version for the Fotografiska show in spicy red, available for sale at the museum's physical and online shop.
(Image credit: Marko MacPherson)
The darkroom represents Tom of Finland’s photographic process.
Tom Selleck was one of the most popular actors of the 1980s and continues to star in popular TV today.
The incident was apparently the work of a group of gay activists called Outpost but it was the reporting of the incident that led to a legal battle between Selleck and the Globe.