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.As mentioned under his two paintings from the mid-1960s, Tay spent some time studying the local Dayak tribe of Sarawak and since then the women of the Dayak have frequently featured in his art works. He carefully notes their languid postures and gentle figure lines, serenity a compelling feature. The effect is almost musical here, where the streaming lines converge to form dancing figures on top, contrasting with the reposed figure below. Tay's Dayak-like female lies with eyes closed but still alert, perhaps daydreaming. The tonal values of the work deepen in blood reds and mellow ochres modelling the forms in unity.
