What Artbank learned from plumbing

Artbank Director Tony Stephens started his career as a plumber. Now he runs Australia's largest contemporary art rental collection.
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The Artbank Director said his years as a plumber had been surprisingly valuable for his arts career. Speaking at the ArtsHub Conference he said he had learned to think about art in a less refined and limited environment.

‘Something that being a plumber taught me is that the average person doesn’t understand how they engage with the arts.

‘Artbank brings art into people’s lives – into an office or a doctor’s waiting room without the collateral of going into a gallery. The distance between the viewer and the artwork is much less … conceptually your experience of it is quite different.

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Deborah Stone
About the Author
Deborah Stone is a Melbourne journalist and communications professional. She is a former Editor of ArtsHub and a former Fairfax feature writer.