Eng Tay

b. 1947, Malaysia

Eng Tay | 戴荣才 (b. 1947, Kedah, Malaysia) is a New York-based Malaysian artist. He creates soft and fluid paintings, sculptures and etchings depicting the themes of family, friendship, music, love and the natural world.

Tay was first introduced to art by his teacher, artist Lee Long Looi while at school in Alor Setar in Malaysia. In 1968, he moved to New York City to study fine arts at The Art Students League of New York, and graphic design at the School of Visual Arts (1969 to 1972). Upon graduation, Tay worked at the Pratt Graphics Center and as graphic designer for Red Book magazine, before travelling to South America and Indonesia (1978 to 1980). These trips formed a basis for the scenes that became his signature subjects: people playing music, family moments, market scenes and daily rituals. In 1993, Tay established Tapir Editions, his professional artist studio in New York.

Tay has shown his art extensively in solo exhibitions in galleries in the United States of America, his native Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and the United Kingdom. His works are in the collections of Singtel, the Alor Setar Art Museum (Kedah, Malaysia), the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (Taiwan) and the Fukuyama Museum of Art (Hiroshima, Japan).

His works have been published in Eng Tay: Illustrated Graphics (1987) and Eng Tay: The Complete Graphics (1993).