By channeling private fantasy into virtuosic drawings, Tom of Finland (Touko Laaksonen, b. 1920, d. 1991) created a libidinal realm in which freedom and pleasure were the reigning tenets.

Presenting works by more than seventy artists, Tom’s Stretch gestures toward the lasting reach of Tom’s legacy, and the expanded, transformative, and more permissive definitions of the body—and of art itself—that his work makes possible. Throughout the exhibition, his iconic visual language forms a link between the early underground worlds of queer desire and an ever-evolving semiotics of the figure, as charted by countless artists of subsequent generations.

Featuring Tom of Finland alongside Ramsey Alderson, Angels of Light, Steven Arnold, Matthew Barney, Ana Benaroya, Peter Berlin, Huma Bhabha, James Bidgood, Nayland Blake, Jared Buckhiester, Scott Burton, Paul Cadmus, Cassils, Julien Ceccaldi, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, The Cockettes, R. Crumb, Christopher Culver, Jory Drew, Jason Fox, Greg Gaar, Aaron Gilbert, Robert Gober, Jenna Gribbon, Mark Grotjahn, Namio Harukawa, Richard Hawkins, Hardy Hill, Nick Hoecker, Martin of Holland, Peter Hujar, G.B. Jones, William E. Jones, Mike Kelley, Kye Christensen-Knowles, Mike Kuchar, Doron Langberg, Steve Locke, Tala Madani, Monica Majoli, Robert Mapplethorpe, Chris Martin, Paul McCarthy, Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Sam McKinniss, Go Mishima, Bob Mizer, Donald Moffett, Victor Moscoso, Ebecho Muslimova, Ruby Neri, Paul P., Breyer P-Orridge, George Quaintance, David Rappeneau, Spain Rodriguez, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Jim Shaw, Cindy Sherman, Jack Smith, Hajime Sorayama, P. Staff, Anita Steckel, Hugh Steers, Joey Strella, Elizabeth Sunflower, Ken Tisa, Salman Toor, S. Clay Wilson, Basil Wolverton, Martin Wong, and Jonas Wood.