ARTBANK Now Open in Waterloo

By Benjamen Judd

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Can’t afford to buy that iconic painting from your favourite artist? Never mind. You may be able to borrow it from ARTBANK, a one-of-a-kind arts initiative supported by the Australian Government that lets you lease works of art.

Based on the fringes of Sydney in Waterloo, ARTBANK is a fascinating concept that opens up the experience of art to a whole new audience. Specialising in living and contemporary Australian artists working across a variety of mediums, ARTBANK lets you experience art outside of the typical gallery space with the added bonus of taking it home. That’s right – ARTBANK is like your new favourite library but for art because, without naming names Joe Hockey, not all of us are filthy rich cigar smoking knobheads who have little clue as to what it’s like to actually live on a real budget. So we can rent it out.

How it works is this: so you have an office or a home or even an event where there is a bit of a blank wall that you think, hey, some art would look great there. You make your way down to ARTBANK where one of their expert staff will help you find the perfect artwork to make the statement you desire. But don’t dawdle; even though they have 10,000 works to choose from they get snapped up quick!

When you know what you want, they will organise a lease agreement and help with your insurance. Once it’s all sorted, you are good to go. They’ll even help you get it all set up – all you need to do is open your door. And this may even be included free of charge – just ask your consultant when you organise your brand new piece of art.

As a sideline to their rental gig, ARTBANK are also host to regular curated exhibitions at held at their Young Street warehouse space. Their current exhibition, Loose Canon, “navigates the conventions of a ‘collection exhibition’ in relation to the way art historical ‘canons’ are formed.” Artworks included come from one of our favourite Sydney-based artists, Justin Shoulder alongside notable artists such as Vivienne Binns and Lynda Draper. Loose Canon will run until 15 November 2014.

ARTBANK is now open at Unit 1, 198-222 Young Street, Waterloo.