paintings inspired by martial arts novels by tay bak chiang

“Tay is one of the most interesting Chinese ink painters in Singapore, reinventing the traditional genre with abstract forms and a contemporary sensibility. Courage, grace, decisiveness, a powerful kind of stillness � these are some of the qualities that he wants to distill from the novels into the works in this show. …

Even for the non-wuxia connoisseur, there are pleasures to be had in these works. The �18 Bronze Men� series of paintings show abstracted human shapes, made up of stacked green blocks with burnished gold edges. You don�t need to know that the Bronze Men are the legendary fighters that Shaolin disciples must pass through to �graduate�, to appreciate the grace and fluidity of Tay�s shapes in �Untitled�, or the chunky gridlocked figures in �One-On-One�.