When it opened in 1996, the 30-story First Hawaiian Center became the tallest building in Honolulu. Its built-in art gallery was designed especially for The Contemporary Museum, now part of the Honolulu Museum of Art.

The gallery, a partnership between the bank and museum, offers rotating exhibits featuring artists who live and work in Hawaii or have a connection to the isles. Selections from the bank’s collection of contemporary Hawaii art are on display in “Celebrating 20 Years of Hawai‘i Art at First Hawaiian Center” until March 17.

Integrating the two-level art gallery into the bank’s headquarters was the vision of retired First Hawaiian Bank CEO Walter Dods, an avid art collector. Dods said he was inspired by exhibits at the former Contemporary Museum as well as a visit to Chase Manhattan Bank’s offices and flagship branch in New York, which presented Chairman David Rockefeller’s personal art collection.

The whole idea, Dods said, is “to get people downtown to see art.”

“I am super pleased that it’s not only lasted but that the subsequent CEO (Robert Harrison) and his team continue to encourage and be involved in it,” Dods said.

The exhibit begins on the ground floor, continues up a set of broad marble stairs to a second level and stretches to the back corridor, which Dods said was originally a fire escape.

The pieces on display were acquired from the gallery’s 140 exhibits over the past two decades. Among them are ebony wood bowls by Derek Bencomo, kapa by Puanani Van Dorpe, photos of bodysurfers by Wayne Levin and paintings by Sally French, Louis Pohl, Tadashi Sato and Mark Kadota.

“Everything gets sold,” Dods said of the art displayed over the years. “The idea is that all would get sold to support the artists. One hundred percent goes to the artist. There’s no commission, no carrying fee. That’s our contribution.”