60+ Years of Tom of Finland

For 60+ years, Tom of Finland (aka Touko Laaksonen) has inspired and empowered viewers, while pioneering expressions of gay desire through his art. While certainly erotic, much of his artwork wasn’t overtly sexual, rather playfully suggestive—making male-on-male lust somewhat everyday and casual (nothing if not brave in the ’50s, when he began showing his work). In a new show at Detroit’s MOCAD, “Tom House: The …

Fascinating Superstitious Habits of Famous Creatives

From Frida Kahlo to Coco Chanel, Salvador Dalí and more, Artsy has explored the fascinating (and, at times, odd) superstitious habits of famous artists, designers and musicians. While Charles Dickens believed that sleeping facing north helped his creativity, Dr Suess put on a hat when he felt writer’s block. Coco Chanel was obsessed with the number five, thanks to a fortune teller saying it was …

Studio Visit: Artist Brandon Lipchik

Exploring the painter's bright, figurative works at the intersection of tactile and digital

It’s been a month now since artist Brandon Lipchik‘s solo debut NYC exhibition, “The Garden.” It was the inaugural offering of Brooklyn’s At Large Gallery and revealed a bright, popish and voyeuristic study of the male-on-male gaze. Here, figurative work— sometimes quite illustrative and other times more emotive—conveyed depths of personality and unexpected beauty. And within each artwork viewers can find a quality both digital …