Artbank is an Australian art rental program established in 1980 by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

. The program supports contemporary Australian

artists An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

by purchasing their

artworks A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literatur ...

and renting them to public and private sector clients. The initiative was inspired by Canada's

Art Bank The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to foster and promote the study a ...

, and was championed by then federal minister for the arts,

Bob Ellicott Robert James Ellicott, (15 April 1927 – 31 October 2022) was an Australian barrister, politician and judge. He served as Solicitor-General of Australia (1969–1973) before entering the House of Representatives at the 1974 federal election ...

, who convinced Prime Minister

Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, and is the fourth List of ...

of its value. The collection was initially endowed with 600 artworks from the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

and has since grown to include over 11,000 works by more than 3,500 culturally diverse Australian artists, spanning various media including painting, sculpture, video, photography, and ceramics. Artbank operates on self-generated income and has collection stores in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, and

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Australia. The program also offers a studio program to artists and designers at its Collingwood location.

History

Artbank was modelled on Canada's

, after then federal minister for the arts,

, saw the

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

collection in 1979 and convinced Prime Minister

of the value of the idea. Fraser was enthusiastic, but treasurer

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

took a little more convincing, before allotting in

seed funding Seed money, also known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor puts capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' suggests ...

. The collection was founded in 1980 with an endowment of 600 artworks from the

. By 1992 Artbank had become so profitable that its government funding was cut off and it operated on self-generated income. It was nearly shut down in 1997, under the

Howard government The Howard government refers to the Government of Australia, federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard between 11 March 1996 and 3 December 2007. It was made up of members of the Liberal Party of Australia, Li ...

, but it was saved after much lobbying. At the end of the 2000

Australian financial year A fiscal year (also known as a financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. La ...

, its

operating profit In accountancy, accounting and finance, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) is a measure of a firm's profit (accounting), profit that includes all incomes and expenses (operating and Non-operating income, non-operating) except interest expense ...

was recorded as and its total assets million.

Function and governance

Artbank is part of the

Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications was an Australian Public Service department of the Australian Government that existed between February 2020 and June 2022, responsible for transport infrastruct ...

(until January 2020,

Department of Communications and the Arts The Australian Department of Communications and the Arts was a Government department, department of the Government of Australia charged with responsibility for communications policy and programs and cultural affairs. In December 2019, prime mi ...

, and various departments preceding that one). The Director of Artbank () i
Zoe RodriguezEstablished in 1980 by the Australian Government, Artbank’s two core objectives are to provide direct support to Australian contemporary artists through the acquisition of their work and to promote the value of Australian contemporary art to the broader public.

The Artbank collection was founded with an endowment of 600 artworks from the National Collection (now the National Gallery of Australia) and has since grown to include more than 11,000 works spanning media including painting, sculpture, video and photography. Through leasing works to individuals, companies and governments (at all levels), Artbank lives up to its policy principle of promoting broad access to Australian contemporary art.

Description

, it has over 11,000 works by more than 3,500 Australian culturally diverse artists, including

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

video art Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting. V ...

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, or more generically referred to as an ''image'' or ''picture'') is an image created by light falling on a photosensitivity, photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor. Th ...

s, and

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porce ...

. Prominent artists represented in the collection are

Jeffrey Smart Frank Jeffrey Edson Smart (26 July 1921 – 20 June 2013) was an expatriate Australian painter known for his precisionist depictions of urban landscapes that are "full of private jokes and playful allusions". Smart was born and educated ...

, Julie Dowling,

John Olsen John Wayne Olsen AO (born 7 June 1945) is an Australian politician, diplomat and football commissioner. He was Premier of South Australia between 28 November 1996 and 22 October 2001. He is now President of the Federal Liberal Party, Chairma ...

Bill Henson Bill Henson (born 7 October 1955) is an Australian contemporary art photographer. Art Henson has exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Venice Biennale, the National ...

Gwyn Hanssen-Pigott Gwyn Hanssen Pigott OAM (1935–2013) was an Australian ceramic artist. She was recognized as one of Australia’s most significant contemporary artists. By the time she died she was regarded as "one of the world's greatest contemporary potter ...

Robert Klippel Robert Klippel AO (19 June 192019 June 2001) was an Australian constructivist sculptor and teacher. He is often described in contemporary art literature as Australia's greatest sculptor. Throughout his career he produced some 1,300 pieces of ...

Emily Kame Kngwarreye Emily Kam Kngwarray (c.1914-1996) was born in her Ancestral lands, Alhalker located in the Sandover region of the Northern Territory, Australia. One of the world’s most significant contemporary painters to emerge in the twentieth century Kngw ...

Bronwyn Oliver Bronwyn Joy Oliver (née Gooda, 22 February 1959 – 10 July 2006) was an Australian sculptor whose work primarily consisted of metalwork. Her sculptures are admired for their tactile nature, aesthetics, and technical skills demonstrated ...

, William Robinson,

Kitty Kantilla Kitty Kantilla also known as Kutuwalumi Purawarrumpatu or Mary Campion ( 1928 – 4 October 2003) was a renowned Aboriginal artist from the Tiwi Islands of the Northern Territory of Australia; she was a Tiwi woman. She worked in a variety of me ...

Rover Thomas Rover Thomas Joolama (1926 – 11 April 1998), commonly known as simply Rover Thomas, was a Wangkajunga and Kukatja Aboriginal Australian artist. Early life Rover Thomas was born in 1925 near Gunawaggii, at Well 33 on the Canning Stock Rout ...

Patricia Piccinini Patricia Piccinini (born 1965 in Freetown, Sierra Leone) is an Australian artist who works in a variety of media, including painting, video, sound, installation, digital prints, and sculpture. Her works focus on "unexpected consequences", conv ...

Tracey Moffatt Tracey Moffatt (born 12 November 1960) is an Indigenous Australian artist who primarily uses photography and video. In 2017, she represented Australia at the 57th Venice Biennale with her solo exhibition, "My Horizon". Her works are held in t ...

and

Del Kathryn Barton Del Kathryn Barton (born 11 December 1972) is an Australian artist who began drawing at a young age, and studied at UNSW Art & Design (formerly the College of Fine Arts) at the University of New South Wales. She soon became known for her psych ...

. Because the artworks are chosen on cultural value and not in order to turn a profit, the institution is able to acquire some riskier pieces. it has the fastest growing collection of

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

and

multimedia art Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as writing, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. This is in contrast to tradition ...

in Australia. Artbank has collection stores in

(opened 1996 in Armadale; moved to a converted warehouse in Collingwood in 2018) and

, Australia. The Collingwood location also offers a studio program to artists and designers, open to applications by residents.

Leasing

Artbank lends its artworks to corporations, government agencies, and private individuals. Restaurateur

Kylie Kwong Kylie Jane Kwong (born 31 October 1969) is an Australian television chef, author, television presenter and restaurateur. Early life and education Kwong attended Epping North School and Cheltenham Girls High School in Sydney. As a third-gener ...

leased a number of artworks for her restaurant at

Carriageworks Carriageworks is a multi-arts urban cultural precinct located at the former Eveleigh Carriage Workshops in Redfern, New South Wales, Redfern, Sydney, Australia. Carriageworks showcases contemporary art and performing arts, as well as being use ...

arts centre in Sydney in 2018. Businesses are able to claim a 100%

tax deduction A tax deduction or benefit is an amount deducted from taxable income, usually based on expenses such as those incurred to produce additional income. Tax deductions are a form of tax incentives, along with exemptions and tax credits. The diff ...

for leasing from the institution. Works are sold from time to time, as part of stocktaking process. The cost of leasing an artwork ranges from to per year, with lease periods lasting from six months to a year, with the ability to extend indefinitely.

References

External links

*{{official, http://artbank.gov.au/ Art museums and galleries in Australia 1980 establishments in Australia Organisations based in Sydney Australian art