Tay Chee Toh, Reproduction of a Woodblock Print, Undated

Print
63 x 45 cm (visible), 83 x 63.5 x 2.5 cm (framed)
Edition unknown, Hand-signed by the artist.
Condition: Good, with slight stains on the bottom section of the work.

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Tay Chee Toh (Malaysian, b. 1941) displayed a natural talent for art from a young age. In 1958, he moved to Singapore to study at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts under Cheong Soo Pieng (Chinese, 1917–1983) and Chen Wen Hsi (Chinese, 1906–1991). He later became a founding member of the Modern Art Society in the 1960s. In recognition of his contributions to the arts, he was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1985. Tay’s body of work, while rooted in formal sensibilities, embraces surreal expressions inspired by fantasy.

His early Dayak Women series, developed after a trip to Sarawak in 1966, reflects the influence of his mentor, pioneer artist Cheong Soo Pieng. Characterised by elongated lines and flattened forms, these works incorporate abstract motifs drawn from tribal textiles and body ornamentation, creating richly decorative surfaces that reflect Tay’s vision of the exotic. In the late 1960s, he expanded his practice to batik, exploring its distinctive motifs, which, like his use of Dayak patterns, underwent stylisation in both his abstract and figurative works.

By the late 1970s, Tay shifted towards abstraction, producing the Aqua and Windows series, where geometric and organic forms float weightlessly in fields of bold, flat colour. In the 1980s, his abstractions became increasingly structured, influenced by the industrial objects and physical materiality that surrounded him. This evolution extended into his three-dimensional sculptural works of the same period, featuring raised abstract forms on totemic supports and hanging mobiles that evoke the sensation of floating structures.

(Photographed in February 2025)