A chat with An "Otai' -Dato' Tay Mo Leong

Lee and i dropped by to pay a visit to an artist who is very well known among most of the Penang Art circle as being the  Pillar of the Water Color Art Society in Georgetown. A man very well respected and honored by his peers and those who art art lovers. I have only met him occasionally at art shows and never really got to know the man up close and personal.  

Born in Penang in 1938, Mo-Leong is a full-time artist and presently the chairman of the Art Gallery Committee,Penang as well as a member of the State Museum Board. He is also the president of the Penang Watercolour Society since 1985.

                                                                                H e was educated at the Chung-Ling Secondary School, Penang and Provincial Taipei Normal College (Fine Arts: 1957-60). He has held numerous one-man exhibitions in Penang (1961), British Council, Kuala Lumpur (1965), Samat Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur (1966), France-Nell Gallery, Tokyo (1966), Miami Museum of Modern Art, Florida (1968), Adelaide (1974), Balinese Series at E & O Hotel, Penang (1979), and 'B.P' Series, Penang Museum and Art Gallery (1989)

By the looks of the stuff found stashed all around his living room one gathers that the Dato' has been a collector himself and he admits that he loves to collect sculptures of lions especially those from China.

He is now over seventy five and is still going at it with the water colors in his apartment where he now lives by himself after the departure of his wife. I must admit that our first encounter which happened at an Art Exhibit was not a positive one as felt him nudged me if not elbowed me aside as he passed me by with an arrogant look in his eyes afterwards. i repaid his courtesy likewise afterwards and we settled that score between us ever since in silent mutual understanding and respect.

His paintings have been collected by the National Art Gallery of Malaysia, the Penang Museum and Art Gallery, Universiti Sains Malaysia Art Gallery and also by individual and corporate collectors in Malaysia and abroad.

I felt a healthy sense of respect for the Dato' for all that he has achieved as an artist in his lifetime and foe all his contributions towards the Art scene in Penang. I had always bee charmed by his late wife who was always by him at every Art shows he was present, she never failed to smile at me as though she felt the bond i had with her husband or the animosity as it started out when we first had our encounter. Dato' Tay presented me with a Retrospective publication of his life's works which was sitting by on one of the side tables which he signed; I was moved by this gesture and he inspired me to continue with my art; he is 10 years older than me.