[1][2] His fellow students studying with Ba Nyan included Bogalay Kyaw Hlaing, Aye Maung and Thein Han (painter).
He was able to exhibit two of his works in Paris at 162e Exposition, Societe des artists francais, Salon 1949,[1] and also in art shows in London and Monte Carlo.
On his return, he was commissioned to illustrate the History of the Buddha compiled by Agga Maha Pandita Ashin Zanakabhivamsa, which he executed in watercolor in the Traditional Burmese painting style while adding considerable innovation.
[1][2] One interesting aspect about Ba Kyi is that his transformation from a Western-style realist and naturalist to a Traditional revivalist did not follow an easily defined linear pattern.
Ba Kyi jumped back and forth between Western-style work and his Traditional painting, while also mixing the two genres in unusual combinations throughout his life.
They are done in bold contrasts of color with the anatomy of figures outlined in thin black lines, with almost no sfumato, as was typical of Traditional painting, but he also introduced a greater sense of anatomical proportion, Western-style perspective, shading, and a sense of movement through fluidity of line which was not typical of figurative work in older Traditional painting.
[1] Ba Kyi also created mural paintings depicting important events in the Buddha's life in the two-storied Ordination Hall at Myanmar Buddhist Vihara, Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India.
[5] The paintings he made for Yangon's Strand Hotel show a humorous eye for the lighter side of Burmese character.
A number of his paintings were given to foreign dignitaries as gifts of state, and in this respect he served as a kind of "ambassador" of the arts for Burma, regardless of regime, democratic or military, for his Traditional-style works had broad appeal across the Burmese spectrum.