Uche Okeke is a Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

n painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 and teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

 of art. A founding member of the Nsukka group

Nsukka group

The Nsukka group is the name given to a group of Nigerian artists who were associated with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in the 1970s. They are known, as a group, for working to revive the practice of uli and incorporate its designs into contemporary art using media such as acrylic paint,...

, he developed, together with Chike Aniakor

Chike Aniakor

Chike Aniakor is a Nigerian painter. A native of Abatate, Aniakor received his first artistic training at Ahmadu Bello University, receiving his master's degree in 1974; he received a doctorate in art history from Indiana University in 1978, writing his dissertation on Igbo architecture...

 and others, the art program of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Born in northern Nigeria, Okeke was the child of an Igbo

Igbo people

Igbo people, also referred to as the Ibo, Ebo, Eboans or Heebo are an ethnic group living chiefly in southeastern Nigeria. They speak Igbo, which includes various Igboid languages and dialects; today, a majority of them speak English alongside Igbo as a result of British colonialism...

 family, and was educated in the region; this, combined with stories told by his mother and sister, inspired in him an interest in Igbo culture that was further whetted when he found that his mother had been an uli

Uli (design)

Uli is the name given to the traditional designs drawn by the Igbo people of Nigeria. Uli drawings are strongly linear and do not have deep perspective; they do, however, balance positive and negative space. Designs are frequently asymmetrical, and are often painted spontaneously...

artist. He attended the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology (now Ahmadu Bello University

Ahmadu Bello University

Ahmadu Bello University is the largest university in Nigeria and second largest in Africa, second only to Cairo University, Egypt. It is situated in Zaria. It was founded on October 4, 1962 as the University of Northern Nigeria....

) from 1958 until 1961, where he and other students rebelled against formal British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 constraints and against the earlier generation of Nigerian artists. To further his interest, he founded the Asele Institute, which is currently located at his residence in Nimo

NIMO

NIMO may mean:* NiMO , a multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London* National Incident Management Organization , a seven member team of professional incident managers with complex incident management as their primary focus....

 and which contains an art library

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

 and a collection of contemporary Nigerian art.

The subjects of Okeke's work are varied, ranging from portrait

Portrait

thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...

 drawings to mythical images from Igbo mythology

Igbo mythology

Ọdinani, also Ọdinala, Omenala,Omenana, Odinana or Ọmenani is the traditional cultural beliefs and practises of the Igbo people of West Africa...

; he has also illustrated scenes from Nigerian history, including a painting of the 1929 Aba Riots, and from the work of Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe

Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe popularly known as Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic...

, such as Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apartis a 1958 English language novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, and one of the first African...

.

Work by Okeke is currently on display at the Sherman Gallery of Boston University, in an exhibit titled "Another Modernity: Works on Paper by Uche Okeke".

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

• Smithsonian institute Washington D.C. U.S.A.
• Academie der Kunste, Berlin, Germany.
• Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.
• Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich, Germany.
• Carl Diusberg Haus, Munich, Germany.
• National Council for Arts and Culture, Lagos, Nigeria.

MAJOR PUBLICATIONS

• Drawings by Uche Okeke, Introduction by Ulli Beier, Ibadan: Mbari Publications, 1961.
• Tales of Land and Death - Igbo Folk Tales, new York, Doubleday, Zennith books, 1971
• Igbo Art, Nimo, Asele Institute, 1976.
• Asele Institute 1959 - 1981, Nimo, Asele institute, 1981.
• Creative Conscience, Nimo Asele institute, 1993.