Exhibition period: February 21 to March 4, 2012

Exhibition location: Central Hall and Hall C on the first floor of Guanshan Yue Art Museum

Organizers: Propaganda Department of Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and Shenzhen Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Undertaking units: Shenzhen Illustration Association, Hong Kong Illustration Artists Association, Guan Shanyue Art Museum

Since the first National Illustration Art Exhibition was held in Shenzhen in 2007, this event has gone through four years and has been held three times. With the strong support of the Propaganda Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and the Shenzhen Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism, as well as the strong cooperation of the Guan Shan Yue Art Museum and the Hong Kong Illustrators Association, this activity has been increasing in scale and influence year by year. The art form of illustration is gradually being understood by more people and has spread nationwide, forming a trend. As an important component of the cultural industry, illustrations have broad support and penetration for the creative design industry, and have significant aesthetic influence on social and cultural forms. The National Illustration Art Exhibition, headquartered in Shenzhen, has become the most authoritative, professional, large-scale, and high-level biennial exhibition in the domestic illustration art industry.

After two years of careful preparation and collection, screening, and evaluation of works, this exhibition has selected a total of 19 gold, silver, and bronze awards in four categories from over 2300 works applied for from all over China, with 156 outstanding and shortlisted works. The number and quality of the entries in this year's competition have significantly improved compared to previous editions, among which the excellent works of published illustrations fully reflect the high level and maturity of domestic illustration design; Creative illustrations have an absolute advantage in terms of the number of applicants and creativity, and the overall trend of works has shown personalization and internationalization, which has also been unanimously recognized by domestic and foreign judges.

Here, we would like to express our special gratitude to the international design master U G. Mr. Sato's enthusiastic participation and support for this evaluation activity. Mr. Sato's personal illustration and poster exhibition, as one of the series exhibitions of this year's National Illustration Art Exhibition, is simultaneously exhibited at the Guanshan Yue Art Museum. This provides a rare opportunity for domestic audiences and illustrators to observe the artistic process and illustration style of design masters. Also, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Guan Shan Yue Art Museum and the Hong Kong Illustrators Association for their long-term support in this competition. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the illustrators for their attention, participation, and dedication.

The vigorous vitality of illustration art is due to groups and generations of illustrators pouring their hearts into it. May China's illustration art gradually shine in the global scroll of illustration.