The 2nd Taichung Shopping Festival has kicked off with a bang and the Taichung City Cultural Affairs Bureau (CAB) has invited 66 cultural establishments and the cultural & creative industry to join the ranks of discount stores, where the purchase amounts will be tripled. Exceptional artists Hsu Wen-Jung and Liao Pen-Sheng donated 2 paintings, namely Fragrance of the Lotus Pond and Monochrome – Coordinates 20F-03, as the grand prizes of the shopping festival. Today (7/20), the paintings were officially unveiled, and the CAB commented that the winners of both paintings and the luxury mansion will be drawn on September 12 to infuse artistic flair to the economic revival policy.
CAB Director-General Chang Ta-Chun thanked the 2 artists for supporting the event on behalf of Mayor Lu Shiow-Yen. He pointed out that the famous paintings embody a cultural and artistic ambiance, making them stand-out among other shopping festival prizes with their unique appeal. Additionally, their ability to retain value, collectability, rarity and quality is unrivaled.
According to Hsu Wen-Jung, the Taichung Shopping Festival is the first of its kind among special municipalities in Taiwan and he is honored to provide his artwork as the prize. The painting, entitled Fragrance of the Lotus Pond, is inspired by the 2 lotus pot plants in his garden at home. They bloomed with a vivacity that was beyond his expectations, transforming into extravagant lotus flowers that have served as inspiration for many of his paintings.
Artist Liao Pen-Sheng said that this year's artwork Monochrome – Coordinates 20F-03 exemplifies the uniqueness between eastern and western paintings. He applied the oil painting technique to complement the calligraphy technique, embodying an amalgamation of eastern philosophy and western concepts towards color to present a contradiction between right and wrong. Regardless of whether it is of eastern or western culture, the painting exhibits the aesthetics of fusion and diversity
CAB pointed out that the internationally-acclaimed artist Hsu Wen-Jung offers diverse and varied creative styles and energy. The painting he donated entitled Fragrance of the Lotus Pond emphasizes the incorporation of oriental artistic concepts into his creative aesthetics, blending eastern/western techniques with various media to showcase his artwork via two-dimensional or three-dimensional presentations.
Liao Pen-Sheng is currently the President of the Arts Society of Taiwan Center (ASOTC), specializing in mixing eastern philosophies with western styles to symbolize the spirit of the eastern philosophy on the circle of life through oil paintings. For his artwork Monochrome – Coordinates 20F-03, he has broken away from the traditional impasto oil painting technique and instead adopted the ink washing painting approach to let the viewers review the value of their own cultures.
CAB elaborated that shoppers with a total purchase of NT$500 or more from partner stores during the Taichung Shopping Festival (July 1-August 31) will have their purchase amount tripled. In addition to a chance to win electric scooters, NT$100,000 cash, Nissan TIIDA, NT$1 million cash prize and a Lih Pao Smile Century mansion are also up for grabs. The lucky winners of the paintings and the luxury mansion will be drawn on September 12, everyone is welcome to Taichung to appreciate art, culture and win great prizes by shopping intelligently.