Kim Leutwyler – Painter of LGBTQ-identified and Queer-allied Women

Born in America, Sydney-based Kim Leutwyler migrated to Australia in 2012. She works in a variety of media including painting, installation, ceramics, printmedia and drawing. Kim holds concurrent bachelor degrees in Studio and Art History from Arizona State University, and additionally graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a Painting and Drawing degree.

Kim’s current work takes its form in paintings dealing with images of beauty, gender and Queer-identity. She has come to focus on painting as a medium because of its primarily masculine history in the western art canon. By entering into the modernist painting field Kim hopes to destabilize gender borders just as LGBTQ artists have been doing since the 70’s and earlier. Her artwork has been exhibited in multiple galleries and museums throughout Australia and the United States.

I create paintings of LGBTQ-identified and Queer-allied women, most recently focusing on my partner, dearest friends and those who have impacted my life in some way. My work explores the line between glorification, objectification and modification. I use patterns from each subject’s local and social environment as a subtle vernacular to portray the layers and complexities of identity. -Booooooom!

Leutwyler’s recent accolades include being selected as a finalist in the Archibald, Sulman and Bluethumb Art Prizes, as well as the Portia Geach Memorial Award. She also won the Midsumma Visual Arts Guide Cover Competition, and her painting was the hero image for the 2016 LGBTQ Festival in Melbourne, Australia.

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