Original Olaf Pencil Drawing entitled Three Studs

Olaf Odegaard will go down in gay erotic history as one of the most well-known artists of the last quarter of this century. Born in Wisconsin, Olaf had an eclectic education, to say the least. He attended Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Harvard Divinity School, the University of Tokyo and finally ended up with a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Hawaii.

Inside the actual workings of the artist, he was an idealist, who loved the written word, treasured the writings of Walt Whitman, and was an established writer in his own right. As is very obvious from his artwork, Olaf loved the interaction between men, but he was compelled to live the life of a recluse. For decades, he worked away at his graphite pencil drawings and oil paintings with little companionship except for a few. His long-time best friend was the man who founded and compiled the Los Angeles based Gay and Lesbian Archives, Jim Kepner, who also passed away in 1997. Kepner did much to make sure that Olaf had a roof over his head for many of those years. In the last years of the artist's life, Durk Dehner, the president of the Tom of Finland Foundation, made it his personal responsibility to protect Olaf from the ravages of homelessness. Through personally representing Olaf's art, producing a book on him, sponsoring a one-man show, and building an archive of his work, Dehner managed his affairs for him, at one point literally keeping the artist from being on the street by finding an apartment that was within his budget.

Many of Olaf's best known works revolved around the subject matter of devils and satyrs, which had personal symbolism for him. Perhaps his most famous set of works illustrated "The Story of O", a popular book that details the training of a slave.