大河美術1998年成立於臺灣臺中。創辦人洪瑞鎰先生對雕塑藝術有著相當濃厚的興趣，在初期發掘了臺灣知名雕塑家李真和洪易，並持續與臺灣藝術家合作了二十多年。2021年，在二代接班人洪曼媛的掌舵下，將位於臺中市中心一挑高四層樓、佔坪1600平方公尺的嶄新空間，作為擴展其國際藝術家陣容的計畫基地。
為深化與國際的連結，大河美術率先加入了如加拿大籍臺裔藝術家李奕諠和美籍臺裔藝術家Timothy Bair 等與臺灣關係緊密的藝術家。透過和這些出生於 90 年代並且曾在海外生活的藝術家合作，藝廊將在國際舞台上向大眾重新介紹更廣闊且當代的福爾摩沙文化。
在實行相關計畫數年後，現階段藝廊的國際藝術家陣容穩定成長並滿足了其多元的展覽需求，同時亦致力於擴大其在國際舞台的影響力，承諾促進學術發展和教育推廣。大河美術秉持著與當代頂尖藝術家共同成長茁壯的決心，重新思考展覽的形式，並將其作為一至關重要的媒介，以探究本質的視角及多元開放的觀點來譜寫未來實踐計畫的新篇章，期許成為兼具深度與廣度的國際藝廊品牌。
River Art Gallery was founded in 1998 in Taichung, Taiwan. The gallery’s initial years were known for, the director, Ray Hung’s interest in sculptural art; and in the process, discovering renowned Taiwanese artists, such as Li Chen and Hung Yi. After over two decades of focusing on working with Taiwanese artists domestically, the gallery gradually opened up its program to an international roster in 2021, with the presence of the new director, Ella Hung, the youngest daughter of gallery founder, Ray Hung. Ella Hung’s present-day program resides in a brand new, four-level, 1600 sqft gallery space in the heart of Taichung City.
The gallery made its first steps to broadening its roster with the addition of artists who are somewhat close to home, such as Taiwanese-Canadian artist; Yi-Shuan Lee, and Taiwanese-American artist; Timothy Bair. The decision for working with these 90s born artists who have spent time living outside of their motherland, is a direct way for the gallery to reintroduce a much more expansive, and yet contemporary, idea of what Formosan culture stands for on an international stage.
Now, a few years into Ella Hung’s program at River Art Gallery, along with the much larger premises to accommodate the demands of the wide range of exhibition practices in its steadily growing roster of internationally recognized artists; River Art Gallery strives to take on an even greater presence on the global stage, with a commitment to invigorate academic as well as educational purposes. The gallery’s program is based on a determination to build and grow alongside the top innovative figures of today, in radically rethinking the exhibition as a form and taking it as a critical medium.