Born in 1939 in Singapore (d. 2005, Singapore), Tay Bak Koi graduated from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1960. Adept at painting in watercolour and oil, Tay developed a distinctive style of simplified forms and reduced lines. During 1961-1970 Tay completed 300 watercolours for the then Hilton Suites, Singapore.As with his ‘Village on Stilts’, Tay has chosen the ‘kelongs’ – Malay for offshore wooden huts built on stilts by fishermen and connected to land via a wooden gangway – as the subject matter for this painting. Unlike the aforementioned work, however, ‘Water Village’ is a study in paired-down simplicity. His monochromatic colours seamlessly merge the tangible with the intangible; shape, form and line coalesce on a horizon-less plane. Tay offers the viewer not just a glimpse into a watery way of life near extinction, but also a lesson in restrained design and calculated composition.
