Tom Bianchi

Palm Springs, California, USA
Photography

At a glance: A native of Oak Park, Illinois, Tom veered from his original inclination to be an artist and studied law at Northwestern University in Chicago ... He spent years as a trial lawyer for a law firm in Chicago and later practiced entertainment law in New York ... He had an epiphany at Fire Island Pines and began his long-delayed artistic career, first creating large abstract constructions ... Tom moved to Los Angeles with his lover David ... Profoundly affected by the AIDS crisis, losing David to the disease, Tom shifted a focus of his work to celebrating healthy gay sexuality ... A 1991 exhibit of drawing and photographs led to a contract with St. Martin's Press and a best-selling book of photography, "Out of the Studio" ... He has produced 18 books of photographs, specializing in the male nude ...

Tom was one of the four charter Gay Games Ambassadors when the program was started in 2002 ... He serves as a volunteer advisor for the physique competition on the Federation of Gay Games Sports Committee ... Tom's wonderful photographs from Sydney's Gay Games VI were a centerpiece of Chicago's Gay Games VII promotional campaign, a fitting full-circle connection for this Chicago-area native ... His work was featured at the Jean Albano Gallery during the week of Chicago's Gay Games.

His website address: www.tombianchi.com