„SUNSET BOULEVARD“, 2023-24
As a tribute to the creators of Tom of Finland Foundation and to Los Angeles, my work immortalizes a circle of people closely connected to this cultural gem, which houses one of the world’s largest collections of erotic art. The painting’s format - a 21:9 aspect ratio - alludes to the CinemaScope process and, by extension, the Hollywood film industry. The figures depicted are life-sized. The painting was executed on vintage pages from gay pornographic magazines of the 1970s, mounted onto 27 cardboard panels, thereby creating a fitting, sexually charged background. The use of black-and-white adult magazines from the 1970s references the era of the sexual revolution, during which the institution was founded. The Foundation is located just a stone’s throw from Sunset Boulevard - a street synonymous with Hollywood ever since the 1950 film of the same name starring Gloria Swanson.
Since 2017, I have been a regular artist-in-residence at the Tom of Finland Foundation. I have realized several projects there, including the publication of a book about the Foundation and its extensive art collection in collaboration with director and founder Durk Dehner: “My Gay Eye – Tom of Finland Foundation Special” (konkursbuch Verlag, 2018). In 2022, I was invited to create a multi-part mural on the Foundation’s façade titled “My Return to Pleasure Park”. I also participated in three presentations of the Foundation’s collection in collaboration with the Paris-based exhibition center The Community under the title “AllTogether”: in 2022 as a collateral event to the Venice Biennale and also in Paris, and in 2023 in New York City. A print of "Sunset Boulevard" was presented for the first time in 2024 at the world-famous Berlin club Berghain. In 2026, I participated in the artist-in-residence exhibition “FXLK PLAY: Artists-in-Mischief, Devotion, and Mythmaking” at Plummer Park, West Hollywood.
I am deeply grateful to Durk Dehner and his staff - above all his partner, Sharp - for the varied inspiration, generosity, and support they have provided. I can say that my artist-residencies at TOM House have enriched my artistic journey in invaluable ways.
From Berlin with love, Rinaldo
www.rinaldohopf.com
"My Gay Eye - Tom of Finland Foundation Special", 2018
Berlin
Germany