Tay Bak Koi, Nude 2, 2001
Oil on canvas
70 x 100 cm
Condition: Very good
Certificate of Authenticity from the Estate of Tay Bak Koi available.
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Tay Bak Koi is remembered for buffaloes: that instantly recognisable, simple silhouette with its inverted V-legs, set against Singapore's vanishing kampong and rural landscape. Trained under Cheong Soo Pieng at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts from 1957 to 1960, Tay would later develop the buffalo-and-kampong landscapes that would define his market: that stylised, inverted-V-legged silhouette set against Singapore's vanishing rural scenery. However, with Nude 1 and Nude 2, they predate that signature — or sit outside it. Figure work rarely surfaces in Tay's market today; they are a reminder that the artist who is better known for animals and villages, could hold a body just as surely.
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Tay Bak Koi (Singaporean, 1939–2003) studied under Cheong Soo Pieng (Chinese, 1917–1983) at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1957. During his three-year course, he supported himself by selling crabs at a market stall while experimenting with oils and watercolours. Frustrated by the structural rigidity and formal instructional methods of art academia, he was determined to pursue a lifelong career in the arts but recognised the need to cultivate a distinctive style to establish himself as an artist.
Tay’s early works captured Singapore’s vanishing landscapes, portraying geometric kelongs and kampongs with a keen sensitivity to texture. His restrained use of colour acted as a form of punctuation, emphasising contrast and meaning within his compositions. Blending fantasy and reality, his art often reimagined urban landscapes through abstraction. A master of elimination and distortion, Tay distilled complex forms to their essence, developing a visual language that was both striking and deeply introspective.
(Photographed in July 2026)