THISDAYonline

Contemporary Nigerian art history will be incomplete if Professor Uche Okeke, one of the pillars on which it rests, is not fitted properly in the forefront. Starting as an undergraduate, and even while at rest in Asele Institute, Nimo, Okeke continues to straddle the Nigerian art, nay, African art scene.

In April 2003, Professor Okeke will turn 70 years old. The Art-in-Africa Project and Pendulum Art Gallery, Lagos, are organising a series of events to mark this milestone in the life of an individual who has built himself into an institution.

Okeke was born on April 30, 1933 in Nimo, Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State. Between 1940 and 1953, he attended Saint Peter Claver's (Primary) School, Kafanchan; Metropolitan College, Onitsha and Bishop Shanahan College, Orlu; during which time he had already begun to demonstrate an avid interest in drawing and painting.

As an undergraduate at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology (NCAST) Zaria, in 1958, Okeke led his contemporaries, in a spate of nationalism to protest against the Western - oriented art curriculum they were being taught leading to the formation of the historically significant Zaria Art Society. This initiative evolved into what Okeke termed 'natural synthesis'. Its thesis was built around a model where African students were encouraged to imbue their art with vision and philosophy that come from their immediate environment. This was a system where motifs extracted from their culture and tradition were, used to aggregate their experience as well as contribute to national development. Some of his contemporaries were Bruce Onobrakpeya, Yusuf Grillo, Demas Nwoko, Okechukwu Odita, and late Simon Okeke among others.

Subsequently, Okeke went ahead to evolve from Igbo Uli, a unique style of draughtsmanship consisting of elemental lines that were yet profound in execution and perception. It was perhaps not a coincidence when he was commissioned to illustrate the globally - acclaimed African masterpiece, 'Things Fall Apart' written by the eminent Chinua Achebe.

Okeke was actively involved in the formation and evolution of the Mbari Movement and its development in Enugu. A man of strong conviction, Okeke lays his prodigious talent beside his beliefs. In the 1960s, during the Nigerian civil war, he packaged an exhibition that toured Europe to prosecute the diplomatic battle that was opened on the European front to shore up the Biafran side.

After the war, in the early 70s, as a lecturer and acting Head of Department in the Fine and Applied Arts Department, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he led a renaissance of sort that involved arching back to the past to borrow from an art tradition (Uli body and wall painting) peculiar to Igbo women, to help initiate and propagate the modern Uli art movement / school. The volume of research, publications and exhibits this initiative spawned is transgenerational and remains a testimony to Okeke's prowess as philosopher- artist. In 1973, he also designed the first course programme of the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu and initiated postgraduate courses in the Department of Fine Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

In 1976, Okeke attained the rank of a professor. He has been Director of the Institute of Africa Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Visiting Professor to the Department of Creative Arts, University of Port Harcourt, Honorary Deputy Director - General (Africa) of International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, among numerous other engagements with many educational and cultural institutions in different parts of the world.

In 1986, Okeke retired honourably as the Dean Faculty of Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He proceeded to Asele Institute, Nimo, which he had founded in Kafanchan in 1958 and moved to Enugu in the 60s not to rest but to continue with the propagation of art. As an attestation to a life of achievement, he has garnered numerous local, national and international awards.

That Okeke carried the Uli experiment beyond the walls of Zaria and led its transformation into a modern idiom at Nsukka remains a feat of inspired originality. That his 'natural synthesis' philosophy blossomed to become fount and factor in the development of modern art in Nigeria represents a logical and sustained triumph of both vision and imagination. All these have transformed him into a father figure in the history of Nigerian modernism and he has carried the burden of history so gracefully that his ideas and legacies are sure to find followers among generations of artists to come.

In all, Prof. Okeke, an artist emeritus, has built a corpus of work that spans history. Some of his creations are in private and public collections around the world. But like all great men with a sense of history, shorn of pedantry and pecuniary instincts, he has in his possession a sizeable and representative portion of his oeuvre.

At a time like this, when our journey through nationhood is fraught with the celebration of crass mediocrity and opportunism, misplaced priorities and values and all manner of evil, it is imperative that we document history and point at a new vista by celebrating and honouring a genuine patriot, activist, national hero, academic and distinguished artist, Prof. Okeke, as he turns 70 on April 30, 2003.

It is for these reasons and more that the Art-in-Africa Project and Pendulum Art Gallery, Lagos, are organizing this celebration: The Triumph of Asele: Uche Okeke at 70. It will be multilayered, consisting of three events: A Roundtable Conference in Asele Institute, Nimo, focusing on aspects of the works of Uche Okeke; The Triumph of Asele will be a comprehensive exhibition of the works of Prof. Okeke, illustrating his creative evolution and trajectory, comprising the different epochs of his artistic practice. Homage to Asele will comprise an exhibition of the works of artists who went under Prof. Okeke's tutelage or that of his ex-students and other selected artists.

To put these events in proper perspective and to document history properly, there will be commemorative publications. There will be a major book published to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Okeke; it will be titled The Triumph of Asele: an Anthology of Uche Okeke.

This book will comprise essays by knowledgeable scholars on the works and activities of Okeke and it will be illustrated with some of his works. The publication will be edited by C. Krydz Ikwuemesi, and Kingsley Ene-Orji. It will also serve as a catalogue to the exhibition. The exhibition, Homage to Asele, shall have a separate catalogue containing works by the exhibitors and some introductory essays. A book, The Rediscovery of Traditions, an account of the Uli experiments at Nsukka and beyond, written by C. Krydz Ikwuemesi will also be presented at the occasion.

Ene-Orji writes from Enugu