{"id":2202961,"date":"2026-10-16T17:31:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T14:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2202961"},"modified":"2026-10-16T17:31:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T14:31:56","slug":"strife-at-tom-of-finland-foundation-amid-accusations-harassment-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2202961","title":{"rendered":"Strife at Tom of Finland Foundation Amid Accusations, Harassment Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Tom-House-Jamison-Rockmore.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\tIt has been a long road to recognition for the artist known as Tom of Finland, who started out in the queer erotica underground, submitting his drawings of gay men with eye-popping physiques, often dressed in leather fetish gear and engaged in equally eye-popping sex acts, to magazines like Physique Pictorial <\/em>in the 1950s, sometimes seeing them branded as pornographic.<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite those origins, he has arrived at international renown. When Finland\u2019s postal service released stamps devoted to the artist in 2014, buyers placed orders from some 178 countries ahead of the launch. Filmmaker John Waters and critic Camille Paglia contributed to Taschen\u2019s enormous 2016 book on the artist. When a musical devoted to his life opened in his home country in 2017, it sold out its run of more than 60 shows. A 2023 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki was a hit; Frieze<\/em>called him \u201cone of the country\u2019s greatest cultural exports.\u201d The artist is represented by David Kordansky Gallery, with locations in Los Angeles and New York, and Galerie Judin in Berlin.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut now there is significant conflict over the management and direction of the Tom of Finland Foundation, which is based in Los Angeles and is devoted to preserving the legacy of the artist born Touko Laaksonen (1920\u20131991). It looks after a collection of the artist\u2019s work that is valued, according to the board, in the tens of millions of dollars, and which they say was until recently being kept in a storage unit in the driveway at Tom House, where the artist lived, in the Echo Park neighborhood, and where the foundation has long been headquartered. (Rizzoli published a book on the house in 2016.) The area was recently reclassified into a high-risk zone for wildfires; the board says the collection has since been relocated for its safety to a museum-caliber facility.<\/p>\n

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\"Olli<\/div>\n<\/div>
Olli Rahkonen, third from right, in the role of Touko Laaksonen and dancers perform during a rehearsal for the the musical Tom of Finland<\/em> on January 25, 2017 at the City Theatre in Turku. <\/span>AFP via Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe board is facing accusations from Durk Dehner, who cofounded the foundation with the artist in 1984, and his partner, S. R. Sharp, who told ARTnews <\/em>that he was an on-again, off-again employee at the foundation for decades. They also face considerable resentment and suspicion from other insiders, who spoke anonymously, whether for fear of retaliation or to protect future employment opportunities. Dehner, in a September 19 Instagram post, went so far as to call the leadership a \u201crogue board.\u201d He is convinced, he told ARTnews<\/em>, that the mostly New York\u2013based board is intent on whisking the organization away from Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn emailed statements to ARTnews<\/em>, the board explained its actions in detail and defended its leadership. The five-member board is currently headed by New York\u2013based chairman Robert Knox Hayes, who works in banking and wealth management. Knox Hayes told ARTnews <\/em>in a phone interview that board members have been subjected to harassment.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cA focus of the Board has been to strengthen and protect the Foundation,\u201d the board said in its statement. \u201cAs part of that initiative, compliance counsel was engaged in early 2026. Every effort is being made to ensure that the Tom of Finland Foundation is in full compliance with California\u2019s corporate code as it relates to nonprofits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBoth sides do agree on one thing: the foundation is hard-up. According to tax forms filed for 2024, the organization had total revenue of about $678,000, and total expenses of about $800,000.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tA Cofounder Departs Amid Controversy\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tDehner resigned from his position as the foundation\u2019s president in January 2025. Also at that time, he was removed from his position as a judge of the leather conference and competition International Mr. Leather (IML) after photos surfaced of him wearing Nazi regalia. (Tom drew men in uniform, including Nazi outfits, Them<\/em>reported at the time, saying the artist decried their philosophy but added, \u201cOf course I still drew them. They had the sexiest uniforms!\u201d) Out <\/em>reported that in a private Facebook post, Dehner apologized for the impact on the foundation: \u201cI have violated my own code of ethics, and know that more consciousness is required in a world that does not necessarily like who we are as a people,\u201d he reportedly wrote. Dehner did not answer requests for further comment.<\/p>\n

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\"speaks<\/div>\n<\/div>
Durk Dehner speaks during a seminar during the second day at the Eurobest festival of creativity at Finlandia Hall on December 2, 2014 in Helsinki, Finland.<\/span>Andreas Rentz<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe board explained in its statement, \u201cFor 40 years Durk Dehner served as President of the Board, a paid employee, [and] landlord of the Tom of Finland Foundation, and received payments from the Foundation\u2019s commercial business. To ensure Foundation resources serve only its charitable mission, the Board reviewed its conflict of interest policy and processes, and followed governance practices that reinforce protections against risks such as self-dealing and private inurement. The Foundation takes every step to ensure it is in full compliance with Federal and California law.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A drawing session at Tom House.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe foundation has been very active in the field. Since 1993, it has hosted the annual Tom of Finland Art and Culture Festival, which it describes as the world\u2019s largest erotic art fair, held at various locations internationally. In 2024, the organization teamed up with the fashion brand Diesel, which supported a collaboration, and this month, Paris\u2019s Galerie Regard hosted a show realized in partnership with Pornhub. Also in 1993, the foundation began to stage the Emerging Erotic Artist Contest, which has been organized 11 times since, most recently in 2024. Besides an extensive collection of Tom of Finland\u2019s work, say two former staffers, the foundation also holds a collection of at least 3,000 pieces by queer artists.<\/p>\n

\n\tSome recent projects undertaken by the organization raised red flags, say the board. Richard Villani, a former employee, told ARTnews <\/em>he organized Amsterdam exhibitions at both Raam Art Space and Rob Gallery, which started in 1978 with a Tom of Finland exhibition; both involved former artists in residence at Tom House. Villani said that the foundation leadership refused to support them. Knox Hayes, in an email, told ARTnews <\/em>that Villani was informed more than once that the projects could not proceed without board approval and that one of the artists to be shown is personally represented by Villani, raising the issue of private benefit from foundation activities.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Foundation became aware of activities in Amsterdam involving several former artists in residence,\u201d said the board in its statement. They instigated to a review with legal counsel since \u201cthese activities were outside the Foundation\u2019s approved programming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSaid the board, \u201cCounsel identified several compliance concerns. Under federal tax law and California nonprofit law, a 501(c)(3) organization must operate exclusively in furtherance of its stated charitable purpose, and its activities may not confer private benefit on individuals connected to the organization. The Amsterdam activities raised concerns on both counts: they fell outside the mission then on file with the IRS and the State of California, and they involved potential conflicts of interest on the part of a staff member. The activities also lacked the registrations required for a U.S. nonprofit to operate in the Netherlands and involved the sale of artwork. On that basis, the Foundation determined it could not formally approve the projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\tAn Artist Residency Program at Issue\t<\/h2>\n

\n\tDehner and Sharp claim the board abruptly discontinued programs at Tom House, including an artist residency program, without notifying the artists, some of whom had gone to considerable trouble and expense in preparation to come to LA. A group of 41 artists who have had residencies has published an open letter to the foundation, saying they are \u201cdeeply concerned by the lack of transparency and abrupt interruption of several programs by the current administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAll of us had transformative experiences at the Tom of Finland Foundation through our residencies,\u201d write the artists, \u201cand we want that artistic and community legacy to continue and develop into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe board, for its part, says that the foundation could hardly host a residency at Tom House, or any other activities, after Dehner, as landlord, evicted the foundation in July. In a September statement on the foundation\u2019s website, the board of directors say that Dehner resigned in January of 2025 and that \u201cthe Foundation can no longer responsibly operate as a resident organization in Mr. Dehner\u2019s home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cArtist selections had been made without appropriate Board oversight or transparency, and the Board did not have a complete list of the selected artists or their contact information,\u201d said the leadership in the emailed statement. \u201cWhen the Foundation learned it would have to leave Tom House, this made it extremely difficult to even identify and reach the artists whose residencies would be affected. Once the Board was able to identify the affected artists, they were offered reimbursement for rent paid in advance, fees, and non-refundable flights, along with a commitment to include them in future programming. We\u2019ve also invited former residents to help shape what comes next, including grants, exhibition support and a traveling residency program.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDehner, Sharp and two people who were present say that much of the foundation\u2019s staff was dismissed, in each other\u2019s presence, in a June 30 meeting. The board tells ARTnews <\/em>that four staff positions were eliminated on July 15 \u201cto align operations with our resources,\u201d adding that the director of operations and the digital media manager continued on, and the director of operations later resigned in August. (Sharp was the director of operations.)<\/p>\n

\n\tDehner and Sharp say that the board has not raised money for the organization, and point to the fact that none has served for more than two years. The board says that their time on the board doesn\u2019t fully represent their years of involvement, and that one board member has been closely involved since 2020. They also said, \u201cOver the last two and a half years, the current Board has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Foundation,\u201d adding that \u201ceven in the last thirty days, approximately $75,000 was recently secured to support exhibitions, public programming, and the Foundation\u2019s ongoing work supporting artists and preserving and sharing Tom\u2019s legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBoth sides of the conflict say they have only the best interests of the artist and the organization at heart.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are so unique,\u201d said Sharp in a phone conversation. \u201cTom\u2019s work was hidden under people\u2019s beds and they jacked off to it, and it\u2019s also in MoMA.\u201d Several insiders noted that a site like Tom House is unique in the American cultural landscape, and indeed rare on a global scale.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI had a very close and intimate relationship with Tom, and he trusted me to protect his work and that of other artists,\u201d Dehner said in a phone call. \u201cI cannot stand by and allow this to take place. I\u2019m all for new directions, but to ignore all that we\u2019ve accomplished in the past, it\u2019s not wise. It\u2019s a slap in the face for all of our lifetime members who have committed to the foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBoard head Knox Hayes likewise tells ARTnews <\/em>he and the board are only trying to do the right thing.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are dealing with hell-raisers,\u201d he said in a phone call, \u201cbut we are hell-bent on protecting this organization.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Tom-House-Jamison-Rockmore.jpg?w=1024″] It has been a long road to recognition for the artist known as Tom of Finland, who started out in the queer erotica underground, submitting his drawings of gay men with eye-popping physiques, often dressed in leather fetish gear and engaged in equally eye-popping sex acts, to magazines like Physique Pictorial in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2202961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2202961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202961\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2202961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2202961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2202961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}