Good Housewife Guide Rule 3: Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him

This self portrait is a response to Robert Pearce’s playful collages, upending heteronormative gender roles. Researching Pearce's work called to mind the "Good Wife's Guide.” This magazine article was rumoured to have been published in a 1955 issue of Housekeeping Monthly, describing how a good wife should behave. My favourite bit of guidance is rule number three, ‘Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.’

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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. Leutwyler 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.Leutwyler's current body of work features paintings exploring notions 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. Her artwork has been exhibited in multiple galleries and museums throughout Australia and the United States.Some of Leutwyler's recent accolades include being selected as a finalist in the Archibald, Sulman and Black Swan Art Prizes, the Churchie national emerging art prize as well as the Portia Geach Memorial Award.