In Pursuit of a Flavoured Life
Conversations with Tay Bak Chiang on Food, Companionship and Life
By Arethea Lim
This is a winning entry from the fourth Art & Market ‘Fresh Take’ writing contest. For the full list of winners and prizes, click here.
The smell of warm breakfast flows through the air. Yet, it is not one of sweet pastries or freshly baked loaves. Rather, it is a crisp oiliness punching the air with unapologetic intensity – savoury fried dough, slices of bread slathered with thick spreads, runny eggs barely cooked through and iridescent rice cakes flopped on their sides.
Tay Bak Chiang, ‘Breakfast 早餐’, 2022, ink and colour on paper, 28 x 139cm. Image courtesy of the artist and iPreciation Gallery.
Tay Bak Chiang paints these delights across a long scroll, serving a visual feast for the eyes. ‘Breakfast 早餐’ (zao can) is an ode to the morning regime Tay has subscribed to ever since his arrival to Singapore thirty years ago from Malaysia. Nowadays, his breakfast of choice tends towards kaya toast and soft-boiled eggs, as kueh lapis (steamed rice flour cakes) is far too sweet for his ageing body.
I had the joy of talking with Tay about his latest series ‘Flavours of Life 五味雜陳’ (wu wei za chen). The title of his series draws from the Chinese idiom “五味雜陳” which encapsulates a conglomerate of feelings mixed together in a melting pot. Tay believes that food and life are closely intertwined with each other–that the foods we eat are emblems of the lived human experience.
Tay Bak Chiang, ‘A Flavoured Life 煎炸人生’, 2022, ink and colour on pape, 69 x 69cm. Image courtesy of the artist and iPreciation Gallery.
One symbol is the 油条 (you tiao) (fried dough), a repeated motif in ‘A Flavoured Life 煎炸人生’ (jian zha ren sheng). These fried dough snacks are made by submerging lengths of dough into boiling oil, and they twist and burn before metamorphosing into their final golden form. Such a process of immersive refining echoes the life journey of working hard while navigating mountains and valleys in hopes of (unpromised) success.
Tay’s series reflects this arduous process. To create ‘A Flavoured Life 煎炸人生’, he would 打包 (dabao) (order takeaway) the fried dough back to his studio and spend whole afternoons painting them within a single seating. He rendered his food in ink, the medium he was trained in at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and loved for its 内力 (nei li) (internal force) and unpredictable fluidity. It possessed an unforgiving nature, where any mistake made called for a fresh paper to start over.
Painting the contemporary subject matter in ink allowed Tay to engage in a cathartic wrestle with his feelings in every revision of each work. Yet despite his profound emotional connection to his subject matter, Tay believed his painting process was simply part and parcel of daily life that was nothing more special than the average fried dough.
Tay Bak Chiang, ‘Feast 盛宴’, 2022, ink and colour on paper, 69 x 69cm. Image courtesy of the artist and iPreciation Gallery.
However, such ordinariness does not discount the existence of the spectrum of emotions experienced. These emotions are acknowledged in Tay’s compositions, and his thoughtfulness is especially articulated in ‘Feast 盛宴’ (sheng yan). Creating the piece was a meticulous sequential addition of cutleries onto food and into bowls, with Tay seasoning each dish with sentimentalities nourishing one with both loneliness and companionship.
“Creating the piece was a meticulous sequential addition of cutleries onto food and into bowls, with Tay seasoning each dish with sentimentalities nourishing one with both loneliness and companionship.”
He recounts his days as a solitary artist eating his bak kut teh (pork ribs). Yet, the family he has built over the decades has brought him out of his isolation and added new dishes – his table with a single bowl has expanded to populate an abundant zi char (assortment of affordable home-cooked style Southeast Asian dishes) order whose rich flavour profiles echo the diverse lives seated at the round table. The presence of those we love and who love us blesses us with the opportunity to taste and share new flavours and feelings.
The pandemic taking away the daily mundanity of eating at hawker centres interrupted opportunities for communions over lunch and dinner, putting a halt to the landmark experience of Singaporean life. Tay recounts the difficulty of fostering such moments with his growing family, but turned to takeaway to continue to support the hawkers and have family meals.
Tay Bak Chiang, ‘Takeaway Bliss 打包亦是一種幸福’, 2022, ink and colour on paper, 139 x 23cm. Image courtesy of the artist and iPreciation Gallery.
‘Takeaway Bliss 打包亦是一種幸福’ (da bao yi shi yi zhong xing fu) captures the joy experienced in ordering takeaway from the hawker centres. The little boxes of steamed buns and dumplings hold not only the chef’s labours of love, but also the buyer’s sacrificial love in spending hours queuing for food to be bought for others; Tay muses about how he was unwilling to line up even for his favourite dish, but was more than happy to patiently queue for food requested by his wife and children. And returning home to the smiles of his children was more than worth the wait.
Tay Bak Chiang, ‘Striving 力爭上游’, 2022, ink and colour on paper, 34 x 139cm. Image courtesy of the artist and iPreciation Gallery.
Tay brings our conversation back to kueh lapis, a snack he has eaten since his childhood in Malaysia and indulges on occasion today in Singapore. But more than being a vessel of times past, the kueh lapis is a looking glass into the future. In ‘Striving 力爭上游’ (li zheng shang you), Tay reflects on the steady climb upwards through the layers of life. The kueh lapis is a symbol of both the chase towards our dreams and the desire to continuously work hard towards success.
“What is success to you?” I asked Tay.
He paused for a moment on the phone, before humbly commenting, “In my life right now, it is to take care of my family, and to continue working hard on my art.” ‘Flavours of Life 五味雜陳' is an incomplete series that continues to hold space for growth, reflecting the time we have in our lives to mature and develop.
Tay Bak Chiang, ‘From a Distance 何謂遠方’, 2022, ink and colour on paper, 69 x 69cm. Image courtesy of the artist and iPreciation Gallery.
Before we parted, Tay left me with one of his favourite paintings in the series ‘From a Distance 何謂遠方’ (he wei yuan fang), a work dedicated to the uncertainty he felt while transitioning from being a student to a full-time artist. Sitting at the table alone with the birds wistfully looking into the distance, one is left to think while looking into the distance – what is “遠方” (yuan fang) (distance)? And more deeply, what is one’s “理想” (li xiang) (goal in life)?
10,000 miles away from Singapore, I continue to cook my late grandmother’s fried rice: a medium portion of scrambled eggs, a generous serving of spring onions, a dash of soy sauce. And though I sit alone at my table anxiously eating my dinner in anticipation of the future, each spoon of rice is a taste of warmth and comfort. A flavour that crosses the 遠方 (yuan fang), or distance, as I feel a pull towards my 理想 (li xiang), or goal in life, at home.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of A&M or the prize sponsors.
About the Writer
Arethea Lim is an artist and art historian exploring phenomenological studies of modern and contemporary art with a focus on Southeast Asian art. She is currently pursuing her BAH in Art History and Psychology at Stanford University and recently completed her painting series ‘Works by his hand’ under the Chappell Lougee Scholarship. Arethea has worked at numerous art institutions including National Gallery Singapore and the Whitney Museum of American Art. She wants to strengthen the growing art scene in Singapore, increasing its presence globally and making art and art experiences accessible to all.
