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Join us for the opening preview of 'Beryl Cook / Tom of Finland'.⁠ All welcome, suggested donation £5. Learn more and plan your visit via the link in our bio.⁠

Writer Nathalie Olah leads a talk in response to the art of Beryl Cook. Situating Cook in the British mid-century, Olah explores the artist’s work in relation to the academic interests of that time — namely pop-culture as a relatively new phenomenon, and the spread of American soft power through its entertainment machine. With reference to writers and theorists including Raymond Williams, Richard Haggard and Stuart Hall, Olah offers a re-reading of Cook’s practice. This event forms part of our Saturday Talks series, in which artists, curators and writers lead personal responses to Beryl Cook / Tom of Finland. These talks, readings and performances are an opportunity to explore specific aspects of the exhibition, from 'bad taste' to class tourism, masculinity and sexuality in the military, and London's lost queer spaces. Suggested donation £5 https://studiovoltaire.org/whats-on/saturday-talks-series-nathalie-olah/

Artist and writer Huw Lemmey will convene a panel discussion that considers how artists have documented, created and worked in queer community spaces through the lens of Tom of Finland and Beryl Cook's practices. These contexts are inherent to Tom of Finland’s work, not only in terms of subject matter but in the way his work circulated through and was made for leather bars, such as London's The Backstreet or Hamburg's Tom’s Saloon. Less known are Beryl Cook’s depictions of gays bars such as the 'Lockyer Tavern', a well-known queer venue in Plymouth which served as a meeting place for gay men, sex workers and local women, or ‘Bangs Disco’, known as 'London’s first gay superclub' in the 1970s. Lemmey is joined by artists Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, Prem Sahib and P Staff, whose respective practices have addressed the histories of queer spaces, from public cruising sites, saunas and London's disappearing LGBTQ+ bars, to TOM House, the home of Tom of Finland Foundation. Suggested donation £5 Please note that this event will be held online via Zoom. https://studiovoltaire.org/whats-on/online-panel-huw-lemmey-p-staff-hannah-quinlan-rosie-hastings-prem-sahib/

Artist Emily Pope leads a reading and exhibition tour responding to the art of Beryl Cook and Tom of Finland through the concept of ‘class tourism’. Exploring the potential of socio-political monologues within contemporary media, Pope’s artistic practice stems from a history of experimental broadcasting, with a focus on humour and satire, intersectional feminism, dyke/queer subjectivities, political rhetoric and class politics. Expanding on this research, Pope will draw upon themes of class-consciousness in the context of Beryl Cook / Tom of Finland, specifically in relation to ideas of authenticity, nostalgia and the cultural appropriation of subcultures under late capitalism. This event forms part of our Saturday Talks series, in which artists, curators and writers lead personal responses to Beryl Cook / Tom of Finland. These talks, readings and performances are an opportunity to explore specific aspects of the exhibition, from 'bad taste' to class tourism, masculinity and sexuality in the military, and London's lost queer spaces. Suggested donation £5 https://studiovoltaire.org/whats-on/saturday-talks-series-emily-pope/

John Edwards, founder of The Backstreet, leads a talk on the iconic venue, leatherman subcultures, and the work of Tom of Finland. For 37 years, The Backstreet was a legendary part of the gay bar and leather scene, becoming the longest-running and strictest men-only leather bar in London. In 1987, Edwards commissioned two drawings from Tom of Finland to help promote The Backstreet. The drawings, one a leather man and the other a rubber man, replaced the earlier club logo of a pair of boots, and soon became synonymous with The Backstreet, appearing on posters, flyers, and newsletters. This event forms part of our Saturday Talks series, in which artists, curators and writers lead personal responses to Beryl Cook / Tom of Finland. These talks, readings and performances are an opportunity to explore specific aspects of the exhibition, from 'bad taste' to class tourism, masculinity and sexuality in the military, and London's lost queer spaces. Suggested donation £5 https://studiovoltaire.org/whats-on/saturday-talks-series-john-edwards/