TAY BAK KOI (1939-2005)

Tay Bak Koi is a renowned second-generation Singapore artist, having studied and trained under Nanyang School pioneer Cheong Soo Pieng during the late 1950s. His portrayals of localized village scenes, farming landscapes and cityscapes, rendered in oils or watercolors, have contributed significantly to the modernist oeuvre within Southeast Asia. Tay's early works in oil have received especial acclaim for their progressive modernism, extending the visuals engendered by Cheong Soo Pieng; bold, thick application of paint, and characteristic stylization of specific motifs, such as the buffalo, a recurring theme within his work. Although a formalist by training, and generally favoring figurative scenes, Tay also experimented with abstraction in varying degrees. Bullock Cart is an idiosyncratic example of Tay's oil work, where a typically Southeast Asian scene is transformed into a study of interlocking geometrical shapes and pastiched gradient textures.