Born in 1941 in Malaysia, Tay Chee Toh studied at Singapore’s Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and has a postgraduate degree (Oil Painting) from China. He is the recipient of numerous painting and sculpture awards, and in 1985 Tay was conferred the Government of Singapore’s Cultural Medallion Award.Many Singaporean artists of Tay’s generation, at some point, experimented with the batik medium; either studying directly the traditional forms and methods, or else attempting to effect a new and untried means to conduct the medium to suit their personal style. Tay executed a number of batik works using his 'sand' method, but ‘Indian Ladies’ shows the most interesting qualities, primarily because it was done in one colour. The batik is made the traditional way, but sand is used to overlay the design before it dries. The result is a grainy texture that contrasts with the implied smooth curves of the figures.
