Born in Indonesia, 1936, Tay studied in a small fishing village and moved to Malacca due to the racial conflict in Indonesia during 1945. Two days later, Tay made his way to Singapore and studied there for a couple of years before returning to Indonesia to help out his father’s fishing business. It was there where he discovered his interest n art. 

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Tay returned to Singapore again in 1952 to pursue his artistic studies as he found no such opportunities in Indonesia during that tine. Tay enrolled to NAFA the following year where he was under the guidance of first generation Nanyang artists such as Cheong Soo Pieng and Lim Hak Tai. Tay was influenced by the Equator Art Society, which resulted in his focus on painting people of the working class, rather than landscapes like his peers.