Kim Leutwyler is a queer and gender diverse visual artist with roots in the American Southwest, now based in Sydney.
During the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras season they’ve got a new exhibition Desert Ballads and Sharp Spurs that is showing at the Nanda\Hobbs Gallery in Chippendale at 12-14 Meager Street.
The artist works across painting, installation, ceramics, print media, and drawing and their current work focuses on themes of identity, queerness and the natural world.
Leutwyler is known for vibrant and expressive paintings, which are exhibited widely across galleries and major cultural institutions in Australia and internationally.
In an artist’s statement about the exhibition Leutwyler speaks about her inspirations and motifs.
“The cowboy is often mythologised as a figure of freedom and toughness, yet is inseparable from frontier violence, land theft, and exclusionary ideals of masculinity. Growing up in the desert as a queer and gender-diverse person, I was surrounded by a cowboy culture I never felt I fully belonged to.
“This body of work is a return to the iconography and landscapes of my childhood.
“The desert has always felt like home. After moving to Australia, this connection deepened as I began exploring new environments, recognising familiar rhythms and forms across continents. These landscape paintings are not literal depictions. Instead, they merge memory and imagination, creating an ongoing dialogue between places I have known.” the artist shared.
The exhibition runs from 24 February – 7 March 2026.
