Olaf Odegaard’s contributions to the homoerotic community date back to the late 1970s. He was a fellow artist of Tom of Finland, Etienne, Domino, and a slew of other greats whose works were featured in the American magazine Drummer from early on. Olaf was, in a sense, adopted by the Foundation in the mid-1990s. He was on his way to becoming homeless and, having led a monastic life for many years, had lost the confidence to go anywhere. The Foundation got him an apartment across the street from Tom of Finland Company in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA, and everyone contributed to finding buyers for his works. Tom of Finland Foundation president and cofounder Durk Dehner, with Richard Hawkins, published the book Beasts and Beauties: The Erotic Art of Olaf (1996), featuring the artist’s photorealistic pencil drawings from the 1970s to the 1990s.
