With bright colors and a clear point of view, Kim Leutwyler paints portraits with a social conscience. Her work focuses on themes of gender identity, in a medium she chose for “its primarily masculine history in the western art canon.” Expressing herself through painting and identifying with the LGBTQ community, her aim is to “destabilize gender borders.” Among those she considers “art world heroes” are Robert Rauschenberg, Jenny Saville, and Mark Ryden.