Summer Voices

Alexandre Farto aka VHILS, Pictorial Series #21, 2024. Dropshop.

As part of our Summer on Park programming, PhillipsX showcases a dynamic selling exhibition featuring three visionary artists engaged in recent or upcoming collaborations with Dropshop. Showcasing works by Tom of Finland, Edgar Plans, and Alexandre Farto aka VHILS, the exhibition highlights practices that challenge conventions and explore themes of identity, community, and urban life.

Here, we discover how these artists harness the power of art to inspire and disrupt across generations and cultures.

Alexandre Farto aka VHILS

PHILLIPS: Your work often begins with the destruction of a surface — whether it’s a city wall or a stack of layered billboards. What does this act of subtraction mean to you as an artist?

VHILS: For me, subtraction is not an act of destruction, but one of revelation. I’m interested in what lies beneath the surface — literally and metaphorically. Cities are like palimpsests, layered with histories, memories, and identities that are often obscured by the speed and noise of contemporary life. By carving, scratching, or exploding through those layers, I’m attempting to expose the essence of what has been forgotten or overlooked. It’s a way of confronting time, of creating through erasure, and of honouring what’s already embedded in the material. Each subtraction is a form of excavation — a gesture that connects past and present, the personal and the collective.

P: In your work with billboards, you reclaim mass-produced street materials to create deeply personal portraits. How do you choose these materials, and what do they represent for you?

V: The materials I use — whether billboards, construction debris, or city walls — are carriers of meaning. They’ve absorbed the rhythms of urban life, and they speak of consumerism, impermanence, and the fragmentation of identity in the public sphere. Billboards, in particular, fascinate me because they’re designed to impose — to broadcast messages at a massive scale, often disconnected from the places where they appear. By reclaiming and working through them, I’m interested in reversing that logic: in using the anonymous, disposable layers of the city to tell human stories. The portraits I carve into them emerge from chaos, revealing presence within the noise — and for me, that tension between personal identity and mass culture is central to the work.

P: You’re also presenting a new series of limited editions. In your view, what role do editions play within your broader practice?

V: Editions are a vital part of my practice, not just in terms of technique, but in how they challenge traditional notions of uniqueness and access in art. I’ve always believed that art should exist beyond institutional walls — that it should engage people where they are. Editions allow for that. They democratise the encounter, enabling my work to reach wider and more diverse audiences while still holding conceptual and material depth. I treat each edition with the same attention I give to large-scale interventions — often hand-finishing them or working with alternative processes — because I see them as time capsules of ongoing ideas. They are moments of thought made tangible and shareable. In a way, editions function like points in a wider network of meaning, each one connected to a broader exploration of identity, memory, and place.

Tom of Finland Foundation

Tom of Finland, Untitled (Preparatory Drawing), 1985. Summer on Park.

PHILLIPS: How did Tom’s early fascination with the rural Finnish frontiersmen influence his later artistic style and subject matter?

TOM OF FINLAND FOUNDATION: Ever since he was a young boy, Tom had a fascination with boots, all kinds of boots: logger boots, fishermen rubber boots, and even the boots the school bus driver wore with his uniform. Eventually, when he joined the army, Tom’s boot attraction evolved to include military-type high-knee boots.

Tom’s fascination with boots was so deeply penetrating that his parents bought him a pair of black rubber boots at just 5 years old and they would often find him asleep with his arms wrapped around them. For Tom, boots made a man’s presence complete, and he even said “men are much sexier when wearing a pair of boots.”

P: What kept him returning to the male form?

TFF: As a gay man, Tom’s eye naturally focused on the male form. He, like so many of the masters, had a preference in depicting the male body. The beauty provided much artistic pleasure for him. It was this same pleasure that helped him excel in his creations, and all works that surrounded the subject matter.

P: How was Tom’s work received in Finland compared to internationally? How did cultural differences affect his career?

TFF: Tom began developing a market for his work around 1954 in Finland, which remained among the close circle of his homosexual community. Since homosexuality was illegal in Finland until 1971, Tom set up his own mail order business to be able to circulate his work internationally. In the 1980s, despite the legalization of homosexuality in the country, Tom continued using his nom de plume to protect his sister’s reputation.

It was his partnership with Durk Dehner that bolstered the success of his mail order and publishing businesses. This success fostered the creation of a non-profit focused on preserving Tom’s art alongside the art of hundreds of other gay male erotic artists of the era. It was his international experience in Los Angeles that helped him feel liberated and garner the courage to let his home country know his real identity. Tom of Finland was now finally Touko Laaksonen!

P: How did his work evolve over the years and how does it continue to impact queer communities?

TFF: Perhaps it is society that has evolved more than Tom’s work. Originally, Tom sourced his art from pornography, before the term “erotic art” even existed. This influence and discovery of the field, has had a direct impact on several generations of LGBTQ+ individuals, by providing them with a sense of pride and assurance in becoming well-rounded sexual young adults. Even when advised by art critics to “tone down” his art, Tom was committed to this objective of empowering LGBTQ+ communities. The integrity of his work, which he often called his “dirty little drawings,” was a core part of his practice. Over time, academics even found that his influence was an integral contributor to the development of how young LGBTQ+ individuals view themselves.

Edgar Plans

Edgar Plans, Art Notes II FOODIE, 2025. Summer on Park.

PHILLIPS: How did you develop your characters?

EDGAR PLANS: My characters developed organically over time, starting with simple sketches and evolving into what I now call the “Animal Heroes.” They are a reflection of my imagination and my desire to express complex social ideas through a language that feels accessible and emotionally resonant. I wanted to create figures that embody innocence, strength, and purpose, capable of connecting with people across ages and cultures.

P: What are your earliest memories of visual art? Do they continue to influence your work?

EP: Some of my earliest memories are of drawing endlessly as a child. I would fill notebooks with characters and imaginary worlds. That sense of play and curiosity has never left me. The freedom and spontaneity of those early drawings continue to influence my work today, both in how I compose each piece and in the themes I explore. I believe it’s essential to keep that childlike sense of wonder alive in everything I do.

P: Do you hope your “Animal Heroes” will reintroduce people to values like solidarity and respect? And who do these heroes save?

EP: Absolutely. The “Animal Heroes” were created to spark reflection on essential values such as solidarity, respect, inclusion, and empathy. These characters are not traditional superheroes. They do not save the world in dramatic ways. Instead, they protect what is often forgotten: kindness, everyday courage, and the importance of small actions. They are a reminder that anyone can be a hero in their own way.

P: Your father, Juan José Plans, was a writer and an important voice in radio, television, and film. Did growing up in a creative household shape your work?

EP: Growing up surrounded by creativity had a profound influence on me. My father’s passion for storytelling showed me how powerful imagination can be. Through his work in radio, literature, and film, I learned that ideas could take many forms and that narrative is a universal tool for connection. His creative discipline and curiosity inspired me to follow my own path and continue building stories through visual language.