20 August – 13 September 2025
Now in its fourth iteration, Despard Gallery’s Young Bloods exhibition series has acted as the next big step in supporting our newest Tasmanian artists, providing a platform to help launch their careers on the commercial stage.
Over the last thirty-nine years Despard Gallery has built a reputation as a cultural ambassador for Tasmania, steered by a commitment to promote our artists by sharing their work to audiences nationally. We are honoured every time we get to share new artworks through the gallery, no more so than of from our emerging talent. As part of this commitment, Despard Gallery has aimed to become a key space to support new artists through collaborative projects, curatorial and creative mentorships, as well as professional exhibition opportunities. This year we are proud to showcase the practices of Jonny Scholes, Aisha Sherman-Noth and Sam Wilkinson.
With a unique combination of approaches and creative directions, each artist already provided a significant contribution to the Tasmanian arts scene through a high-level of originality, insightful lines of enquiries and professionalism. Through a firm commitment to their practice, each artist sets a high precedent amongst a nationally recognised emerging Tasmanian arts scene.
Click here to register interest for Young Bloods IV.
Jonny Scholes is a multidisciplinary artist with work that encompasses installation, sculpture, painting, new media and street art, each linked through an interest in digital geopolitics and the rapid integration of technologies into society. Informed by his knowledge in coding and digital systems, Scholes’ work draws attention to the abstract nature of hidden digital mechanisms that now influence our social systems and shape the physical world.
Aisha Sherman-Noth’s paintings reflect on the close juxtaposition between built-up urban spaces and the trees and plants that line its perimeters, specifically the arterial road of the Brooker Highway. Contrasting bright colour and painterly gestures against raw linen or seemingly unfinished areas, Sherman-Noth suggests a sense of subtle instability, capturing the restless balance between the manmade and organic.
Sam Wilkinson’s paintings capture the density of the remote Tasmanian wilderness, its raw beauty and often unstable conditions. Reflected within this sense of isolation and heavy silence, is Wilkinson’s own experience of walking off-track through the mountainous areas of south-west Lutruwita / Tasmania. Derived from the memory of this experience, each composition shares the lasting physical and emotional influence.
