Anyone short on cash to buy an Australian masterpiece can still hang valuable artworks on their walls by leasing them instead.
National art leasing program Artbank has amassed a huge collection since it was established by the federal government in 1980, starting with 600 artworks from what is now the National Gallery of Australia.
That's grown to 11,207 works by 3792 artists, recently valued at more than $47 million.
Artbank is marking 45 years since its founding with exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney, a limited edition publication and the launch of a national art prize.
The Melbourne exhibition features household names such as Sidney Nolan, Jeffrey Smart, Margaret Olley, Emily Kam Kngwarray, Patricia Piccinini and Howard Arkley.
Such works are unaffordable for most but the Artbank program democratises access to high quality, says director Zoe Rodriguez.
"Many of our clients could never afford to pay the purchase price but the rental fee is affordable," she says.
"You don't have to be a multibillionaire to have a really excellent Australian masterpiece."
About 60 works in the collection are worth close to $1 million. They would never come up for sale on the secondary market but are available to rent.
Some items can be leased for as little as $160 per year, while the most expensive cost about $10,000 a year.
Artists have a special affection for Artbank, Rodriguez says, because for many, it was the first institution to acquire their work, bringing both cash and validation at the start of their careers.
"It's a rite of passage; they can put their shingle out and say, 'I am a capital A Artist'. So it's really welcome," she says.
One of these artists is Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, who is so successful these days in contemporary circles, he's known by his first name only.
In 2014, Artbank bought a piece at his first exhibition of ceramic sculptures, a silver mound with a face titled Silver Dickhead 2.
"At the time, anyone buying my artwork was amazing. You know, there was always a bit of surprise," he says.
More than a decade on, the Sri Lankan-born Sydney artist exhibits around the world, has a monograph published by Thames and Hudson, and has featured on CNN.
The Artbank curatorial team has an extraordinary strike rate of picking artists who are at the start of stellar careers, Rodriguez says.
At big art events such as Sydney Contemporary, the Melbourne Art Fair or the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, Artbank staff run public tours showing off the works they have acquired at the shows.
Very rarely, a work on loan is damaged - one time, an office photocopier was mistakenly rammed into an artwork.
Another was stolen when an Australian outpost overseas was burgled but the artwork mysteriously reappeared several years later at the back door of an Artbank storage facility.
"People who rent works from Artbank have a love of art. They are very respectful, so mostly our works are extremely safe," Rodriguez says.
While Artbank might not have the profile of some of the nation's major art institutions, in some ways its collection is actually more visible, with its storage facilities open to the public.
About half the Artbank collection is out on loan at any one time - on the walls of art lovers and in dozens of law firms and government departments, as well as more than 90 of Australia's diplomatic outposts overseas.
The income from these loans has made Artbank a rarity in the arts sector, a government program that effectively pays for itself.
It has also become one of the largest collections of contemporary Australian art in the world, with 20 per cent of the collection made up of First Nations art.
Unlike other institutions whose historical collections skew dead white male, it also reflects the cultural and gender diversity of Australian artists.
The newly announced Artbank Prize will select one finalist artwork from each state and territory, with the winner acquired for a maximum purchase price of $20,000.
Artbank's Melbourne exhibition, On Display, runs until October 10, while its Sydney show, Art Text/Text Art, runs until October 24.
