Smooth and Wicked: The Art of Mel Odom

"Finding order from chaos, beauty within pain." Pictured: "Arrangement," 1979

Award-winning artist Mel Odom curated a two-part exhibition that will be online and in-person at the CULTUREEDIT gallery (@cultureeditgallery). The online exhibition will feature over 100 drawings ranging from 1975 to 2019, with five special limited edition prints available for purchase. The CULTUREEDIT gallery will have the five special edition prints on display and available to view by appointment.

The exhibition features both personal work and commercial work that celebrates Mel Odom’s career as a champion of homoerotic artistry. Each special print for sale will be made in five editions and signed by Mel Odom himself.

The North Carolina-raised, New York City-based artist Mel Odom began his career as an illustrator in 1975 in New York City where he started his iconic oeuvre of art deco inspired drawings of stylized figures. Somber yet seductive feelings of mystery live in the beautifully rendered faces of his subjects that have marked his signature style. Odom’s illustrations have been featured in magazines such as Blueboy, Interview, Time, and Playboy, where he was named “Illustrator of the Year” in 1980. He has won multiple awards from The Society of Illustrators along with other graphics and illustration organizations and his illustrations have graced book covers from a variety of international publications.

“Finding order from chaos, beauty within pain, and hope from despair, the artist Mel Odom’s career has spanned several of our generation’s most tumultuous cultural decades. His innate ability to process, through his work, the events surrounding him and his life are viscerally transformed into a dream-like state of bliss in his art and in his creation of memorable objects of desire.”

CULTUREEDIT provides a safe haven for artists to exhibit works free from censorship and restriction. Past exhibitions curated by Joakim Andreasson include solo exhibitions with Bruce LaBruce, Jack Pierson, Patrick Church, LAZOSCHMIDL, and Daniel Trese.

1105 N El Centro Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90029
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@cultureeditgallery