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Monday 10am - 5pm Tuesday 10am - 5pm Wednesday 10am - 5pm Thursday 10am - 5am Friday 10am - 5am Saturday 10am - 4am

Despard Gallery

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Despard Gallery

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Despard Gallery represents Tasmanian, National and international artists. Established in 1985 on Despard Street, Hobart.

Despard Gallery has been an established commercial art space in Hobart, Tasmania for 30 years. Throughout this time the gallery has lead the way for contemporary arts practice through an extensive exhibition program, including large scale international exhibitions in New York and Chicago. With this extensive history and experience Despard is set to realise a fresh new vision in a new, purpose-built above the original gallery in historic, central Hobart. In collaboration with Field Labs architect, James Wilson, Despard Gallery has designed a world-class exhibition space to present the best of Tasmanian art. Originally constructed in 1837 and sensitively restored using modern industrial fittings and finishes, the design has preserved many of the original markings from the convict nails to vintage graffiti. The new exhibition space represents a shift in vision. Through a monthly exhibition program of contemporary art, Despard strives to create an art experience that is stimulating, relevant and reflective of Australian creative culture while not shying away from topical issues. Gallery Director, Steven Joyce is passionate about art and offers discerning advice through the market with confidence. The gallery delivers a highly personalised approach that draws on well-established relationships with artists and curators. Despard aims to deliver the most desirable and highest quality works from both established and emerging artists nationally and internationally. The gallery will now be able to offer the creative community a unique venue to hire, valuations of modern works of art, furniture and design objects. For years, Steven has also offered private art consultancy for businesses and individuals, a personalised service offered to clients with a specified outcome in mind.

16/10/2026

U P C O M I N G E X H I B I T I O N Despard Gallery is excited to announce a special upcoming exhibition featuring new work by early career artists Micheila Petersfield & Philip James Mylecharane.
21 October – 14 November 2026
Through painting and photography, each artist explores the shifting space of contemporary self-imaging. Through vastly different approaches, Petersfield and Mylecharane each reveal how creative practice can play an important role in examining the relational layers of personal identity in modern society. This includes navigating an expanding digital space, which has compelled us to engage in new forms of self-expression in order to redefine our individuality. Both artists use the idea of a constructed identity, creating work that evolves from a combination of carefully curated individual parts that come together to form a new persona. Here, existing snippets of various individuals and their imagined parts are repurposed for the role of personal exploration.

Together, Petersfield’s and Mylecharane’s practices both touch on the many external forces that now influence how identity is fashioned and communicated, including the fine line we all must navigate between what aspects of ourselves we reveal and what parts we choose to mask.
Preview the exhibition and register you interest via our website now to receive a preview catalogue!
Opening event Friday 23 October form 5:30pm
Philip James Mylecharane Micheila Petersfield

15/10/2026

L A S T D A Y S Concluding this Saturday is the inspiring solo exhibition ‘If MY Wings Should Fail Me’ by Tasmanian artist Johsua Andree. Make sure you stop by the gallery in the coming days to enjoy in person.
‘From my main point of observation, I can take in a vast swathe of the lower basin of the river Derwent as it flows into storm bay and out to the ocean. From here I can see Kunanyi / Mt Wellington, look out over the city of Hobart and down through the Huon valley and across to Bruny island. I can look north to the Derwent valley, close to where I grew up and beyond to Mt Dromedary and the skies that sit above the central plateau. It feels that all of this place flows to this point, both geographically and psychologically. Through a different lens, so much history converges here across the waters of this river. The surface of the water thus acts as a mirror to history and to time. As a painter I’ve been interested in the task of not only painting water as it is, but how it operates on the landscape, erasing, obscuring, reflecting, operating in a mostly abstract manor, its movement subject to both time and light.’ Joshua Andree
You can also view in full online now, including an extensive exhibition flipbook catalogue where you can read more about Joshua’s work and anecdotes about specific pieces and their inspiration.
Exhibition concludes this Saturday 17 October.
[paintings - ‘Stolen Light No. 2’ 2026 oil on linen 72 x 61 cm [framed] & ‘Heavy Feathers (The Fall)’ 2026 oil on linen 153 x 92 cm]
Joshua Andree

01/10/2026

T H A N K Y O U Despard would like to thank all the wonderful people who came by the gallery to enjoy another special opening event last Friday in celebration of Joshua Andree’s solo exhibition ‘If My Wings Should Fail Me’.

It was another strong turn out with many clients, friends and family both enjoying Joshua’s new work and congratulating him on another major creative achievement. Despard would like to extend a special thank you to ABC radio presenter Helen Shield for a very entertaining and insightful opening speech.

A big congratulations to Joshua for such an amazing new body of work and look forward welcoming visitors to the gallery and sharing the exhibition over the next few weeks.
‘If My Wings Should Fail Me’ continues through to Saturday 17 October or view in full via our website now.
Joshua Andree Helen Shield

25/09/2026

O P E N I N G T O N I G H T Despard Gallery is pleased to invite you to an Opening Event Tonight (Friday 25 September) from 5:30pm to help celebrate the launch of ‘If My Wings Should Fail Me’ a solo exhibition of new paintings by Tasmanian artist Joshua Andree.
‘The river itself exists as a living archive and I remain inherently aware that it is a place where forgotten histories and present moments exist simultaneously beneath the same changing light. As such, these paintings seek to use memory and observation as tools to articulate the psychological weight of this place. In this body of new paintings based on timtumili minanya / River Derwent, the waterway is treated not merely as a geographic subject, but as a site where multiple histories converge at once and a proposition for the future.’ - Joshua Andree.
To be opened by ABC Radio presenter Helen Shield.
Now available to view in full online via our website. Exhibition continues through until Saturday 17 October.
Joshua Andree

22/09/2026

I N S T A L L complete! After another few busy days of changeover at the gallery, we very excited to open the doors and share our latest exhibition ‘If My Wings Should Fail Me’ by Tasmanian artist Johsua Andree.
Central to this new body of work is Timtumili Minanya / River Derwent, the arterial river that forms a connection between the geography and history of Lutiwita / Tasmania. An-dree describes this water source and its surrounding landscape as a living archive, where thousands of years of history and stories converge, whilst also carrying the hopes of our combined future. The title of the exhibition alludes to this deep respect for the Tasmanian landscape, taking inspiration from a gospel song written by Blind Willie Johnson in 1927; “If my wings should fail me, Lord, meet me in the middle with another pair.” Andree cites this passage to emphasise how the endless beauty of the landscape can represent hope in times of struggle, even when it’s familiar or witnessed every day.
Please join us for an Opening Event this Friday 25 September from 5:30 pm to raise a glass and congratulate Joshua on another standout exhibition.
View the exhibition in full via our website now. Exhibition continues through to 17 October.
Joshua Andree

18/09/2026

U P C O M I N G Despard Gallery is excited to announce ‘If My Wings Should Fail Me’ an exhibition of new work by Tasmanian artist Joshua Andree.
23 September – 17 October 2026
In his second solo exhibition with Despard Gallery, Andree presents a new series of his ethereal landscape paintings, each delicately executed through subtle brush strokes, soft gradients and low-key palette. Through multiple layers of transparent glazes, each painting captures the hazy threshold where the sky, land and water converge, using the natural fluidity of paint to reflect the connecting flow between atmosphere and water.
With an intuitive and minimal approach to painting that almost slips into abstraction, each composition providing space for deeper reflection. As such, Andree shifts emphasis away from how the landscape looks, to how light and weather can shape its experience Overall, Andree reveals how the landscape and painting are not isolated concerns but are in fact closely aligned in helping to guide personal understanding. As such, Andree invites us to become part this unique dialogue with the landscape, each composition born from a place of deep respect, care and quite optimism.
Preview the exhibition via our website now, also register you interest to receive an preview catalogue!
Opening event Friday 25 September form 5:30pm
Joshua Andree

16/09/2026

L A S T D A Y S There is only a few days left to view the new body of work by Tasmanian artist Zoe Grey, featured as part of their current solo exhibition ‘Out Of The Blue’
‘Her style and palette have become more defined, and she’s more willing to delve into more experimentally formal work. There’s consolidation, growth: the work does look like art made by Grey, but there’s change: there’s more abstracted formal strategies, an appealing looseness and that confidence in the work to know where to stop. Knowing where to stop is quite hard. Too much will ruin a work, not enough and the work fails to get off the ground. Grey’s sense of being in place, being connected, knowing a space, is rooted in Marrawah. She knows it so well she can use the forms and hues as impetus to experiment. She’s an amazingly good painter and will only get better. That’s been the trajectory so far.’ – Andrew Harper, Tas Weekend
Make sure you stop by the gallery to view this very powerful and moving exhibition person. You can also view in full online now, including an exhibition flipbook catalogue with exhibition text and personal insights by Zoe. You can also read the full exhibition review by Andrew Harper, published in the Tas Weekend Magazine via the news section of our website.
Exhibition continues through until this Saturday 19 September.
[Artworks: Like Trying To Hold Water Still 2026 acrylic and oil on canvas 198 x 153 cm]
Zoe Grey

02/09/2026

T H A N K Y O U Despard would like to extend a wholehearted thank you to everyone who attended the very special opening event last Friday in celebration of Zoe Grey’s solo exhibition ‘Out Of The Blue’.
It was a fantastic turn out with many clients, friends and family enjoying the exhibition and to be there to support Zoe on what has been a very important and heartfelt exhibition journey. We would like to extend big congratulations to Zoe for such an amazing and strong new body of work and look forward to haring the work with visitors over the course of the exhibition.
We would also like to extend a special thank you to Tasmanian artist and educator Lisa Garland for a very sincere and insightful opening speech.
‘Out Of The Blue’ continues through to Saturday 19 September, with the exhibition available to view in full via our website now, including digital publication and gallery views.
Zoe Grey Lisa Garland

28/08/2026

O P E N I N G T O N I G H T Despard Gallery is pleased to invite you to an Opening Event Tonight (Friday 28 August) to help celebrate the launch of ‘Out Of The Blue’, the highly anticipated fifth solo exhibition by Tasmanian artist Zoe Grey.
‘So, ‘the blue’ is all of this. It’s the process of painting my dear home, a place that seems to only seep deeper into my being as time goes by. It’s the loss of my mother, the stickiness of grief and the way the landscape can console. Much like my experience of the last few years, the paintings are weighted, but they also encompass small yet defiant moments of warmth, light and healing. It turns out these two unlikely friends - joy and sorrow - can sometimes hold hands, and exist together, at the same time.’ – Zoe Grey
To be opened by artist and educator Lisa Garland.
Now available to view in full online via our website. Exhibition concludes Saturday 19 September.
Zoe Grey

26/08/2026

O N V I E W After another big few days of install, our latest exhibition is now on view! Despard is very proud to share the fifth solo expiation by Tasmanian artist Zoe Grey, ‘Out Of The Blue’.
As well as a new series of their bold abstractions, Zoe has created a series of playfully paintings on linen, depicting objects and snippets of text. Through these works, Grey hints at another important aspect of their closeness to Marrawah, revealed through memories and treasured moments of warmth shared with her mum. Grey talks about the importance of writing during their ongoing process of healing, especially when painting did not seem feasible. Left unstretched, these paintings are described by Grey as flags. Powerful in their simplicity of composition and message, they inherently carry deeper meaning, both as a form of communication and symbol of identity. For Grey, each flag becomes a link between place and person, drawing on their ability to convey personal messages over vast distances.
Please join us for an Opening Event this Friday 28 August from 5:30pm to congratulate Zoe on another standout body of work.
View the exhibition in full via our website now. Exhibition continues through to 19 September.
Zoe Grey

Address

15 Castray Esplanade
Hobart, TAS
7000

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 5pm
Tuesday	10am - 5pm
Wednesday	10am - 5pm
Thursday	10am - 5am
Friday	10am - 5am
Saturday	10am - 4am

Telephone

+61362238266

Website

https://linktr.ee/despardgallery

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