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Get a Piece of Skin Off Bruce LaBruce (Photos)

By Christopher Harrity
Bruce LaBruce and the Tom of Finland Store form a happy (open) relationship. Read more below.
Bruce LaBruce and the Tom of Finland Store form a happy (open) relationship. Read more below.

If you are not familiar with Bruce LaBruce’s work, he is sort of a bastard love child of Kenneth Anger and John Waters. Maybe a little scarier. His first claim to fame was the zine J.D.s in 1985. And that little chapbook essentially made the ’90s homocore scene possible. He also made a bunch of crazy-ass films meant to challenge everything you hold dear about God and country. What a relief to let go of all those old ideas.

His fetishized views on sexuality and his tendency to include very hardcore sex scenes in his films and art work make his current offerings through the Tom of Finland Store a perfect match. Even 30-something years after the launch of J.D.s, Bruce LaBruce can still shock — in that way you like to be shocked.

Bruce LaBruce and Joakim Andreasson (TOFS creative director) have announced the online reiteration of “Faggotry.” Following retrospective gallery exhibitions and programs in London (Gallery 46), Madrid (La Fresh), Los Angeles (Lethal Amounts) and New York (MoMA), the online platform will be made up of over 100 photographs that LaBruce has produced over the past 25 years, and are now available as part of an exclusive offering via Tom of Finland Store. (Warning: very adult content.)

The presentation includes photographs from film sets, candid shots of fellow artists, friends, and collaborators, photographs made for movie promotion and posters, excerpts of shoots for magazines, photography for gallery shows, and documentation of live performances.

“To be honest, I just keep doing what I've always been doing. It's the political spectrum that keeps shifting, although its goal posts always seem to shift more and more to the right side of the spectrum in terms of capitalism, corporatism, and neo-liberalism. My work has never been particularly accepted by the gay orthodoxy, and as assimilation advances, it's even less popular!” — Bruce LaBruce on the Glory Hole blog

Assembled here is a small gallery of the images we can show you without scaring the horses in the street. Go to the Tom of Finland Store for the really scary stuff.

Above: Bruce LaBruce, Klaus von brucker #2 (No Skin Off My Ass production still), 1990, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store.

Bruce LaBruce, Skateboard Dress, 2005, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Skateboard Dress, 2005, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Amputee With Gas Mask, 1999, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Amputee With Gas Mask, 1999, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Cure for Crabs, 2004, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Cure for Crabs, 2004, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Hustler Hiding (Madrid), 2009, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Hustler Hiding (Madrid), 2009, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Life Love Regret #2, 2005, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Life Love Regret #2, 2005, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Polizei, 2004, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Polizei, 2004, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, François Sagat Licking Shotgun, 2009, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, François Sagat Licking Shotgun, 2009, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Turban Nipple, 2000, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Turban Nipple, 2000, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Naked Boy Knitting, 2002, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Naked Boy Knitting, 2002, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Vaginal Davis Shrimping #1, 2001, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Vaginal Davis Shrimping #1, 2001, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Skin Flick Production Still #5, 1998, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Skin Flick Production Still #5, 1998, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, François Sagat L.A. Zombie Production Still #1, 2010, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, François Sagat L.A. Zombie Production Still #1, 2010, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Dan and Eddie, 1998, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Dan and Eddie, 1998, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Klaus von Brucker With Super 8 1/2 Slate, 1993, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Klaus von Brucker With Super 8 1/2 Slate, 1993, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Hustler, Johannesburg #2, 2001, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Hustler, Johannesburg #2, 2001, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Mike Diana as Peter Berlin #2, 1998, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Mike Diana as Peter Berlin #2, 1998, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, On the Set of Hustler White #2, 1995, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, On the Set of Hustler White #2, 1995, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, On the Set of Hustler White #4, 1995, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, On the Set of Hustler White #4, 1995, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Undomesticated Goddess #1, 2012, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
Bruce LaBruce, Undomesticated Goddess #1, 2012, courtesy of the artist and Tom of Finland Store
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