DJ Hell announced his latest artistic collaboration: a music video for his new single, featuring images by the world renowned artist Tom of Finland, and created with the L.A.-based Tom of Finland Foundation. The new DJ Hell album Zukunftsmusik will be released in 2017 on Gigolo Records.
Cooperation with Bruno Gmünder
Alongside house music and electronic Avantgarde, dance music and club culture, the German, Bavarian-born DJ Hell has always had an affinity for the many facets of the arts. His particular interest in queer culture led him to the drawings of the artist Tom of Finland (Touko Laaksonen, Finnish, 1920-1991). His new track I Want U features Tom’s men. Cooperation partner is our publishing house Bruno Gmünder which preserves and promotes gay culture since it was established over 30 years ago.
DJ Hell comments: “My new song I Want U centers on love between men. House music emerged from that very early underground club scene in Chicago and New York City, with legendary clubs like The Warehouse and the Paradise Garage. The soundtrack for those nights was presented by DJs like Ron Hardy and Larry Levan, bringing DJ/club culture and gay culture together. With my new album I want to pay tribute to that movement and that time by highlighting Tom’s work.”
Tom of Finland as part of gay culture
In April 2016, DJ Hell visited TOM House, where Tom of Finland spent the last decade of his life. Durk Dehner, Tom of Finland’s former partner and now his foundation’s President, encouraged DJ Hell’s wish to incorporate drawings by Tom of Finland in animated form for the video of his track I Want U, featured on Hell’s Zukunftsmusik album.
Following his credo to “go where no man has gone before,” Hell adds: “My intention is to convey the beautiful images of the strong, muscular men of the gay community from an unexpected perspective.”
According to S.R. Sharp, who serves as vice president and curator for the Tom of Finland Foundation, “Clubs have always acted as temples for the gay community, as a place where people are allowed to be themselves without restraint. They dance with their shirts off, covered in sweat, and revel in pleasure. Just like the club scene, Tom’s art has for generations encouraged men to shed their inhibitions and find joy through all forms of creativity.”