BERYL COOK / TOM OF FINLAND

12:00 am - 12:00 am
Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - Sunday, August 25, 2024

Studio Voltaire

This major new exhibition, Beryl Cook / Tom of Finland, brings together the work of these two cultural icons for the very first time.

At Studio Voltaire, fleshly excesses are explored in pairings that underscore their works as playful and political. In pairing their work, including archival materials which have never been seen by the public, this two-person presentation will provide a significant refocus and reveal interconnected ideas surrounding gender, sexuality, taste and class.

Beryl Cook (b. 1926–d. 2008) was a painter renowned for her exuberant style and descriptions of everyday life. Her work captures the social milieu of the areas she lived in and visited, notably Plymouth. Her most enduring images are of larger-than-life women carousing in nightclubs, eating in cafés or enjoying ribald hen parties, rendered in graphic and colourful forms. Her work came to prominence in the mid-1970s and she quickly became known as one of Britain’s best-loved artists, highly recognised for her distinctive works, which are both celebratory and provocative.

Tom of Finland’s (b. 1920–d. 1991) pioneering depictions of homosexual machismo in his images of bikers, soldiers, cowboys, sailors and labourers broadly represent queer, leather and muscle communities. A master draughtsman, his works gave form to an imaginative universe that, in turn, helped fuel real-world liberation movements and had significant influence on a wide range of cultural figures including the Village People, Freddie Mercury, Jean Paul Gaultier and Robert Mapplethorpe.

Exhibition Introductions, 30 minutes

Alternating Saturdays

Studio Voltaire Assistants lead introductions to the exhibition. We welcome questions, responses and discussion. Please meet at the gallery entrance. Drop-in, no booking required.

1 June, 15 June, 29 June, 13 July, 27 July, 10 August, 24 August 2024. 3–3.30 pm.