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15” x 18”
Oil on Board
commission
2018
2018
Oil on Board
18” x 22”
22" x 28"
2015
15” x 18”
2016
16" x 17"
2015
2014
20"x25"
20"x25"
2014
2013
20"x25"
Oil on gessoed masonite
2013
18"x24"
2012
18"x22"
oil on gessoed masonite
2012
16"x17"
oil on gessoed masonite
2011
18"x24"
oil on gessoed masonite
2011
16"x17"
oil on gessoed masonite
2011
16"x17"
2011
18"x24"
oil on gessoed masonite
2011
18"x24"
oil on gessoed masonite
2010
18"x24"
oil on gessoed masonite
2010
16"x17"
oil on gessoed masonite
2010
18"x24"
oil on gessoed masonite
2010
25"x30"
oil on gessoed masonite
2010
18"x24"
oil on gessoed masonite
2009
18"x22"
oil on gessoed masonite
2009
18"x22"
oil on gessoed masonite
2009
18"x22"
oil on gessoed mesonite
2008
20"x22"
oil on gessoed masonite
2008
20"x22"
2008
20"x22"
oil on gessoed masonite
2008
25"x30"
oil on gessoed masonite
2007
20"x22"
oil on gessoed masonite
2007
25"x30"
oil on gessoed masonite
2007
16"x17"
oil on gessoed masonite
25"x30"
2006
Oil on gessoed masonite
2007
16"x17"
oil on gessoed masonite
2005
25"x30"
oil on gessoed masonite
2005
16"x17"
oil on gessoed masonite
2005
25"x30"
oil on gessoed masonite
2005
16"x17"
oil on gessoed masonite
“Mel Odom’s work is right out of Roman and Greek mythology. His accomplishment is so locked into our memories of Beauties, Beasts, tables that walk on claw-balled feet, and candelabra held up by bodiless hands and arms that extinguish their flames when some dark wind blows.
Ray Bradbury
1980
8-1/2"x11-1/4"
Pencil, dyes and gouache
Owned by Playboy magazine and drawn for an excerpt fromTom Robbins' 'Still Life With Woodpecker".
1983
8-1/2"x11-1/4"
pencil and dyes
Originally done for Playboy magazine
1986
1994
Originally done for "Primavera", novel by Francesca Lia Block
Pencil, dyes and gouache
1990
6-1/2"x9-3/4"- uncropped size
Originally done for a Jon Cohen book "Max Lakeman and the Beautiful Stranger", for Warner Books.
Pencil, dyes and gouache
1979
10"x12-1/2"
personal work
Pencil, dyes and gouache with applied sequins
1986
8-1/2"x11-1/4"
Pencil, dyes and gouache
Done originally for Playboy magazine
Pencil, dyes and gouache
1984
8-1/2"x11-1/4"
Originally created for Playboy magazine, "Mother's Day".
Pencil, dyes and gouache
1993
7-3/8"x10"
Originally created for Playboy magazine
Pencil, dyes and gouache
1985
8-1/2"x11-1/4"
Originally created for Playboy magazine
Pencil, dyes and gouache
1980
3-1/8"x6"
Originally done for an Heri Bendel ad.
Pencil, dyes and gouache
1989
Was originally done for "Bathsheba" by Torgny Lindgren
Pencil, dyes and gouache
1992
6-3/4"x7-1/2"
Commissioned for the cover of the book by the same name.
1984
Pencil
Originally done as part of a tribute to Bill Woggon, creator of Katy Keene
1990
Originally commissioned for the cover of "Stones", a collection of short stories by Timothy Findley.
1993
7-1/4"x10"
Done originally for Playboy magazine for a short story by Dan Simmons name 'Death in Bangkok'.
1982
12"x15"
Commissioned by David-Blue Artworks as a poster depicting the season Spring. The other three seasons were never drawn.
1985
Originally done for the cover of a collection of Ruth Rendell short stories.
Pencil dyes and gouache
1976
9"x11"
This is the second of two drawings done for a 'Viva' magazine feature about Gossip.
1983
3-1/4"x5-1/4"
Done for Viking-Penquin softcover publication of Patrick White's "Living and the Dead".
1981
8-1/2"x11-1/4"
One of two companion drawings originally done for a Joyce Carol Oats short story in Playboy magazine, 'The Sunken Woman'.
Pencil, dyes and gouache
1981
8-1/2"x11-1/4"
One of two companion drawings originally done for a Joyce Carol Oats short story in Playboy magazine, The Sunken Woman.
Pencil, dyes and gouache
1992
5-3/4"x7-1/2"
Was commissioned for the cover of the book "In the Country of Desire" by Leslie Garrett.
Pencil, dyes and gouache
1982
9-1/2"x12-1/4"
Larry LaGaspi was a great designer (LaBelle) and friend of mine and I traded him this drawing for a leather 'space suit'.
1993
approx.9-1/2"x4-3/4" image on 10"x13" board
One of the 'three sisters'
Made a great tattoo on my friend Josh McKenney
1990
approx. 7-1/2"x6-3/4" on 10"x13" board
Was the cover of "I Shudder at Your Touch".
First one of the three sisters.
1995
Approx. 7"x7-1/4" image on 10"x13" board
Commissioned for the cover of Dark Love.
Final one of the 'three sisters'
1988
- The cover art for "Sleeping in Flame" by Jonathan Carroll.
1979
4"x6"
This was originally drawn for a small, unpublished, erotic picture book titled 'Rayford' drawn in 1978.
1984
3-1/8"x5-1/8"
I completed this commissioned cover for Patrick White's "A Fringe of Leaves". He rejected this one among several others I did for him, all terrific.
198?
198?- Drawn for a paper company's promotion
1988- Was used by Ashton-Drake as a tiny canvas to accompany a Gene outfit "Smart Set".
1998
This drawing was done for a then new brand of latex condoms called 'Hevea'.
1982
I drew this portrait of my niece Eloise and gave it to my brother and sister-in-law as a gift.
1985
13"x13"
Done for CBS records for an album of music by Salamone de rossi.
The faces are unforgettable: their glances indelible and mesmerizing, they are imbued with mystery and eroticism as they engage the viewer who is captivated by their haunting, though clement airs. And their eyes, especially, seem the vortex where emotions are identified and revealed. These faces of singular beauty each hold stories inside. They are the faces that graced innumerable pages of magazines such as Time, Omni, and Playboy. They graced the covers of novels and posters in New York at a time when the city needed such beauty to gaze upon, and gladly did. They remain inordinately hypnotic today and remain a remarkable body of work of the artist Mel Odom.
Philip F. Clark http://theartpoint.blogspot.com/
1979
8-1/2"x11-1/4"
This was my first drawing published in Playboy magazine, done for a Roald Dahl short story. Thanks to the amazing working relationship I had with AD Kerig Pope we worked together till 1997.
1985
6"x7-1/2"
Created as the cover of "Why We Never Danced the Charleston", by Harlan Greene.
1979
8-1/2"x11-1/8"
Created for an editorial for BlueBoy magazine "Close Shave' 1979
1982
10-1/4"x15-1/4"
This was commissioned by a Japan-based sportswear company named Colmar. It was to be used for a 6' poster.
It never happened.
1989
4-1/2"x5-1/2"
This is one of four cover illustrations I did for the books of Sterling Watson. This was for the novel titled "The Calling".
1990
The title of the collection of short stories was "Merab's Beauty" which referred to a farmer's cow. I thought this image of a beautiful man would sell more books and still encompass the theme of the short stories.
1986
5-7/8x6-1/4"
This drawing was done for "Postgraduate Medicine" magazine to illustrate an article about men having sex after a heart attack. It was the cover and used inside. (really!)
1997
5-1/2"x7-3/8"
This was commissioned for a gay themed, teen novel titled "Hello, I Lied" written by M.E. Kerr and published by Harper Trophy.
Approx. 1985
13"x16"
This drawing was created in the early 80s as a 'voodoo' cleansing image, after my dramatic breakup with it's subject; artist Joe Morocco. When completed I put it away for many years and didn't look at it.
1996
6-3/8"x7-7/8"
Was drawn for Playboy magazine for an excerpt of a HORRIBLE Harold Robbins novel titled "The Stallion".
1984
8-1/2"x11-1/4"
Was published in Playboy magazine as the illustration for a Ray Bradbury short story titled "By the Numbers".
1984
1"x11-1/4"
Was created for Playboy magazine for a piece on the Japanese Yakuza.
1993
8"x10-3/4"
Was drawn for a Playboy editorial on the Yakuza and never used until 2012 when published in 'The Art of Man'.
1986
Pantheon Books commissioned me to do a cover for the 1st edition of the American printing of 'Live Flesh', a novel by Ruth Rendell.
1995
6"x8-3/4"
I was commissioned to do the cover for RSVP, a now defunct artist promotional annual published in NYC.
1983
3-1/8"x5-1/8"
1987
5-1/8"x8-1/8"
Done for the cover of Edmund White's "Nocturnes for the King of Naples". A poster was printed as well.
1978
4"x6"
The was the title character of a small, unpublished, erotic picture book titled "Rayford" drawn in 1978.
1978
11"x14"
Was drawn as the design for the shopping bag for 'Camouflage', a men's clothing store, and went into the 20th Century collection of the Smithsonian Institute.
1990
This drawing was commissioned for "The Summer Tree" by Guy Gavril Kay. It was not used for this book and never published. They used a bit of this drawing and a soldier from the Tigana drawing for the final cover. i think they thought it was too 'gay', even though the drawing depicts an episode from the story.
1978
8-1/2'X11-1/8"
This drawing is a portrait of my late boyfriend Rhett Fire'. We had broken up and I thought I was getting over him as I did this drawing. Not so. It was the first published illustration I did without a black background and was created for Blueboy Magazine.
1978
8-1/2"x11-1/8"
This was my first drawing for Blueboy magazine, for an article or story titled "The Perfect Lay".
1989
4-1/8"x5-1/2"
Done for 'Weep No More my Brother' by Sterling Watson, one of four covers I did for his books.
1980
8-1/2"x11-1/8"
Personal work later used for a Paper Moon card.
1978
4"x6"
Was originally drawn for an unpublished, erotic storybook titled "Rayford".
1982
8-1/2"x11-1/4"
Originally done for cover of "First Eyes" published in 1982, used inside instead.
199?
Done for a trade magazine story on computer espionage.
1985
Done originally for 'the Conformist' and used later for 'The Magus'.
1983
3-1/8"x5-1/8"
Done for the book 'Voss' by Patrick White.
1995
5-5/8"x8-1/4"
Drawn for the book "Pawn to Queen Four" by Lars Eighner.
1996
This drawing was commissioned by the Society of Illustrators for a book they were doing on 10 American Illustrators illustrating the theme LOVE. Mine was 'Erotic Love".
1978
1988
8-1/2"x11-1/4"
I did this drawing after my drawing for Valentino's men's fragrance was destroyed in trying to make it look like his loose sketch. This is the same palette and 'broken statue" theme.
1978
8-1/2"x11-1/4"
Done for Blueboy magazine editorial on "Class' 1978.
Cover art for Edmund White's "Forgetting Elena" 1979, Penquin
1984
13"x13"
Commissioned by Henretta Condak at Columbia Records for the cover of a recording of Pelleas and Melisande.
The use of vellum has been common for centuries. Many classical masterpieces have been sketched out then transferred to canvas. Mel Odom used vellum to work out proportions and placements for his final pieces, many of these initial drawing hold their own charm and beauty - with just the color of the pencil and the vellum.
Currently the original Vellums have been digitized and are being reinterpreted as new pieces of art in collaboration with several other artists.
2015
private commission
18"x24"
2015
private commission
18"x24"
2014
11"x14"
1988
11"x14"
pencil and white gouache on vellum
11" x 14"
2013
11"x14"
Early 1980s
11"x14"
2008
18"x24"
Approximately 1985
approx.-1985
Personal work
approx. 1887
11"x14"
Personal work. The hand comes from a Tamara de Lempicka painting, 'Portrait of Dr. Boucard'.
Done for Interview magazine.
1980s
1983
10"x13"
Pencil. colored pencil and gold metallic magic marker on vellum
Approximately 1983
11"x14"
Pencil, colored pencil and black magic marker on vellum.
Approximately 1985
11"x14"
1982
8-1/2"x11-1/4"
Approximately 1985
11"x14"
Approximately 1986
11"x14"
2011
11"x14"
Drawn for Japanese Mens Vogue, 'Freedom Fighter' issue.
approx. 1985
11"x14"
mid-1980s
11"x14"
mid-1980s
18"x24"
Done for GMHC's '300 Men' study of 'safe-sex' habits. It proved too hot for the room, and was cropped to include just the faces.
2011
11"x14"
1982
11"x14"
This is a sketch for a series of posters depicting the four seasons for David-Blue Artworks.
1988
11"x14"
This was a sketch for a proposed lithograph for Eleanor Ettinger.
Approximately 1986
11"x16"
Done as a gift for Annie Lennox.
1980
11"x14"
This was a gift for Diana Vreelend to thank her for signing my copy of her book "Allure".
Approximately 1980
11"x14"
silver marker on eyes
Signed by Sally Kellerman
198?
11"x14"
Done as a gift for Stanley when he was my neighbor.
2011
18"x24"
Approximately 1997
2007
18"x24"
2013
18"x24"
Portrait commission
1995
11"x14"
2007
18"x24"
2007
18"x24"
2007
18"x24"
2011
11"x14"
2011
11"x14"
2005
11"x14"
My first paid portrait commission was when I was 14 years old, a portrait of my best friend’s grandfather. Their mother asked me to paint him from a single photo she treasured. I was successful enough that the portrait was framed and hung.
Since then I’ve been fortunate to be commissioned to draw or paint many portraits, world leaders, scoundrels, authors, friends and family. Each one is a special challenge and one that I enjoy.
Portraits are priced at $3000 on up, depending on size and media.
2018
18” x 24”
2018
15”x 18”
For the cover of a biography
2015
private commission
For the over of TIME magazine
Private commission
For the Camouflage men's store shopping bag
For the cover of a biography
For Playboy magazine
Done for THE IMAGE magazine
First portrait of Gene Marshall
Done for TIME magazine
Done for Mr. Tucci
Portrait commission
Personal work
Done for TIME magazine international
Done for the cover of 'Piece By Piece', an autobiography
Done for Miss Lenox
Done for TIME magazine
Done as her author's portrait
Done for ROLLING STONE magazine
Done for ROLLING STONE magazine.
Private commission
Done for tribute to artist Bill Woggan
Private commission
Private commission
Done for "RADIO EYES" as an illustration for "Young Americans".
Done for Ms. Vreeland
Private commission
Done for Mr. Hanson
Done for Joey Arias
Done for MEN'S VOGUE, Japan
Portrait of Jennifer Hodge (personal work)
Personal work (oil on canvas)
Personal work (oil on canvas)
Done for Laura and Ray Behar (oil on canvas)
