Prof. Christopher Uchefuna 'Uche' Okeke (Nigerian, 1933-2016) 'Bring With You Ovu, The Early Bird' (Unframed)
Provenienza : [Propriété non datée]
- Exhibited Lagos, Goethe Institute, 'Uche Okeke: 60th Birthday Anniversary Retrospective Exhibition, (1993), No. 36
- In the late 1950s, a group of young artists studying at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology in Zaria formed a society in opposition to the dominance of Western European artistic traditions that were being privileged by the university
- These students were Uche Okeke, Demas Nwoko, Bruce Onobrakpeya and Yusuf Grillo among others
- Uche Okeke was at the forefront of this artistic movement
- Previously, talented Nigerian artists had travelled to European academies for training
- Okeke however was a home grown talent, studying at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology in Zaria from 1958 to 1961
- Much of his work is grounded in Igbo folklore and mythology, depicting spirits and masquerades
- The fluid, broad brushstrokes of his compositions owe to the linear 'Uli' designs of the Igbo people
- Okeke was very interested in Igbo culture
- Much of his work draws on themes from its folklore and mythology, but it also shows a stylistic influence
- The present work is recorded in the Goethe Institute retrospective catalogue as being completed in 1993, therefore being categorised within his 'Nimo Period' which began in 1986
- This period followed his Asele, Biafra and Uli periods
- This exhibition emphasised the artist's importance also as an educator, activist, and philosopher
- Frank Aig-Imoukhuede, the Director of Culture for the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture in Lagos at the time of this exhibition, noted in the foreword of the exhibition and the artist: 'The importance of Uche Okeke lies in his recognition of the possibilities of Uli as a design resource for enriching modern art and, together with Nigeria's other innovators, of providing us with real '20th Century African Art''
- (Frank Aig-Imoukhuede, Foreword of 'Uche Okeke: 60th Birthday Anniversary Retrospective Exhibition', p.4.) Bibliography P.C
- The Zaria Art Society: A New Consciousness, 'Uche Okeke: Interview by Chika Okeke'
- (Lagos, 1998) p.51
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