Olaf Odegaard

NOTE: The following article is NSFW and includes images of sex and artistic nudity.

Olaf Odegaard (1938–1997), professionally known as simply Olaf, was an American erotic illustrator, writer, and playwright. He was born and raised in Tomahawk, Wisconsin, to a banker father and an early women’s liberationist mother.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from Carroll University where he majored in English and theater studies before briefly attending the Harvard Divinity School. He received his MFA in playwriting from the University of Hawaii. His academic journey eventually brought him to Japan where he studied Noh and Kabuki theatre and encountered influential cultural figures such as Yukio Mishima.

By the late 1960s, Olaf had moved to San Francisco and immersed himself in the countercultural scene. In his graphic work, Olaf often drew inspiration from the leather subculture of San Francisco’s South of Market district.

Olaf. "Jake Tanner." 1994. Graphite on paper. Offered in AFTER DARK on 23 April 2026.

In the early 1970s, he spent several years living in rural Wisconsin. It was during this period that Olaf shifted his artistic focus toward erotic illustration and “concentrated on developing techniques of pencil drawing.” [1] Writing for the Bay Area Reporter, the photographer and curator Mark I. Chester summarized Olaf’s work: “His photo-realistic style is tempered by a trend toward surrealism. Odegaard creates almost a surreal smoothness to the texture of skin. Equally as important is the play of light that molds and envelopes his tightly muscled subjects in a crisscrossing web of light and shadow.” [2]

Olaf. “Untitled (Horned Man)".” 1983. Graphite on paper. Offered in AFTER DARK on 11 December 2025.

Olaf is best known for his detailed and stylized erotic illustrations of men, particularly devils and satyrs. Through his BDSM imagery he has explored fantasy, mythology and same-sex desire.

His long-form fiction and essays accompanied by original drawings appeared in popular gay men’s publications such as Drummer and The Advocate.[3] Published in 1977, Olaf illustrated Robert Payne’s The Story of Q, a gay parody of the classic erotic novel The Story of O.

He was a friend of activist Jim Kepner and served on the board of the International Gay & Lesbian Archives (nowadays named the ONE Archives in Los Angeles). He also worked as the first project coordinator of the AIDS History Project. Olaf often faced periods of financial instability and housing insecurity during his life. He was supported at times by Jim Kepner and Durk Dehner of the Tom of Finland Foundation to continue pursuing his artistic career.

Olaf. “Untitled (Man in a bathhouse).” 1983. Graphite on paper. Offered in AFTER DARK on 11 December 2025.

In a joint exhibition with Bill Schmeling (The Hun), Olaf showed his work professionally at Robert Opel’s Fey-Wey Gallery in San Francisco. In 1986, he organized Naked Eyes, a major exhibition of gay men’s art that brought together the work of over one hundred artists, fifty photographers, and filmmakers.[4]

In 1985, a selection of thirty of Olaf’s illustrations appeared in Personals: Only Real Men Need Reply, published for the benefit of AIDS charities. Shortly before his death, the Tom of Finland Company released Beasts and Beauties: The Erotic Art of Olaf (1996) a major survey of his work.

Olaf passed away in 1997, leaving behind a body of work that is now held in institution collections such as the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago, and the Tom of Finland Foundation. Posthumous exhibitions of his erotic illustrations were held at the Leslie-Lohman Museum and the GLBT Historical Society.

Notes

[1] "Centerfold/The Art of Olaf", Drummer Issue 22 (1978), page 48.

[2] Mark I. Chester, "Artist Olaf Odengaard in Town", Bay Area Reporter Volume 17, Number 4 (22 January 1987), page 38.

[3] Olaf Odegaard, “The Gift”, Drummer Issue 89 (1985), pages 39-55.

[4] "Biggest Male Art Gathering of All Time", Drummer Issue 90 (1985), page 17.

Contributors

Barry Oliver
Cataloger, LGBTQ+ Art & Material Culture