Artbank Staff Profile: Martin Tokarczyk

Name: Martin Tokarczyk

Job Title: Art Consultant

What year did you join the Artbank team: 2021

Describe your role and what you enjoy about working for Artbank:
I look after several client bases at Artbank – ACT commercial, corporate and residential; Australian Commonwealth Government clients; and as an extension of this, our Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) clients. Perhaps most interestingly the DFAT client base comprises Australian diplomatic missions overseas which include our Australian Embassies and High Commissions around the globe. 
With all these sectors I enjoy being able to use contemporary Australian art to help tell Australian stories that create a sense of place. Art has always been the great communicator, and it is a phenomenon that is able to cut through barriers that other modalities may have more trouble doing so. I enjoy working with my clients to create spaces that are engaging, compelling, and memorable. 

Favourite artwork from the Artbank collection: Christopher Bassi, Hibiscus, 2023, oil on canvas. (Part of a series)

Short explanation of your artwork selection (200 words max):
While my favourite work in collection can change from week to week (there are just too many crackers!), recently I’ve found myself coming back to this series by Christopher Bassi that was first shown together at The National in 2023. Bassi is an artist of Meriam, Yupungathi and British descent. His work speaks of an entanglement of history and place; of the personal and collective experience told through iconography and genre. 

I love how these works are able to evoke a great deal though their modest composition. You really get a sense of the languid heat of the tropics of his homelands in Zenadh Kes. The air seems thick and to me they embody a moment of calm perhaps before an impending tempest erupts – perhaps climatic or perhaps social. They are theatrical, poignant and reverent, and I would very much like them in my home!