National Large-sized Oil Paintings Exhibition 2020｜Taichung City Seaport Art Center

This year marks the 19th anniversary of “The National Large Size Oil Painting Exhibition”- a time-honored activity of creating oil paintings on large size canvases. This is without a doubt the perfect choice for flat-art artists in Taiwan to challenge themselves because creating large size oil paintings requires not only technical skill but also conveying the subject of the painting as well as the level of imagination applied by the artists.  That is why it is highly praised and favored by its audience.

108 paintings were submitted this year, and 53 of them were selected in the preliminary competition – a clear indication of how this exhibition is favored by the participating artists. In terms of styles, the paintings submitted to this year’s exhibition are mostly realist. Themes to care for our surroundings are either about expressing artists’ emotions through scenes and objects or reflecting the social or environmental issues the artists would like to remind us of. The style may be realism but the truth is diverse styles are displayed because of the different techniques applied by artists that complement artists’ purposes or ideas. Colors, rearrangement, and juxtaposition are usually used in abstract paintings to express a poetic sense that is the rhythm of our hearts. In addition to appreciating the aesthetic effects created by oil paints, the audience may perceive the philosophic ideas and feelings that can’t be described in words or made concrete via these abstract expressions.   

The most important feature of the National Large Size Oil Painting Exhibition, in addition to exhibiting all submitted paintings, is that 49 outstanding oil painting artists will be invited to take part annually, which gives this exhibition a sense of passing the torch of art. Besides that, it has the objectives of encouraging healthy competition and mutual motivation. We hope that all artists who aspire to create oil paintings will take part in this exhibition every year to boost oil painting in Taiwan with rich creative energy.