AN INTRODUCTION

OKEY ANUEYIAGU

In recent years there have been radical, even revolutionary changes in the direction of African paintings and sculptures. The functional and rational forms of Modernist African art, the prevalent form of the 1920s to the 1990s, has given way to Post Modernism, an almost impossible concept to define. This movement is not so much a rejection of what came before, as it is a stylistic movement in its own right. The rise of this new form of contemporary art, though not entirely new to African art, is partly the result of constantly advancing and innovative painting and sculpting techniques. Modern African artists, using new materials, ideas and techniques, are experimenting in ways that were not previously known or possible. In a revolutionary way, this has led to the production of some very remarkable and unique works.

In this book, I have compiled some of my collection of Onyema Offoedu-Okeke’s paintings of various media, forms, techniques, and styles that I have gathered over a period of about fifteen years. In choosing to do this book, I was confronted with the enormous task of defining Onyema’s obvious progression, and also that of clearly classifying the trend, directions and the influences of the artist over the years.

Although the significance of the life and work of Onyema, the eponymous painter, has been well acknowledged and received within the framework of contemporary African art, I feel he has not been accorded a clearly deserved, explosive international recognition. This may be ascribed to Onyema’s own careful tacit reclusive nature, and the need to maintain control of his image and exposure.

From my early period of collecting African art, I became a strong spiritual advocate of the Traditional African Belief that art is a bridge between the human and the divine. This belief largely served to elide the decorative and narrative-imbued approach endorsed by Onyema in his many works. The reductive styles advocated by such painters and sculptors as Ben Enweonwu, Bruce Onabrakpeya, Er- habor Emokpae, Demas Nwoko, Uche Okeke, Obiora Udechukwu, El Anatsui and others are seen in comfortable conjunction with na- scent abstraction in painting and sculpture. Conversely, Onyema’s romantic historicism aligned him with the artistic style movements, which until recently were seen as outside the avant-gardist tendencies because of its allusive impulses.

Onyema, with his evocative motives and styles, and historicizing adventurism was originally not viewed by critics as an exemplar of the Modernist movement, a movement that was thought to repudiate the past. Instead, he became an anomaly, retaining a criterion of technique and style that appeared to be, however evolved, a nonetheless persistent, Pre-Modernist sensibility.

Interestingly, Onyema, who has deployed much more conceptually complex methods, though in a sense not a proponent of the self- abnegating stringency many a time associated with early African works, has been seen by many critics to conform effortlessly to the purist principles placed comfortably within the parameters of the Modernist movement. His contemporaneity is submerged beneath the highly embellished and aestheticized surfaces of modernity that encompasses inventiveness as an integral component of art.

In this climate of re-assessment of African art, some of the most compelling creators of the early 20th century, whose work did not fall into the prior criteria of the artistic advancement and avant-gardism, emerge with the significance of their own time. In looking at Onyema’s work and career, an impressive paradigm for the early 20th century artist emerges. Though he has over the years avoided a categorical definition of his style, his artistic sensibility is in fact readily identifiable. Onyema has a love of astonishing juxtapositions of fragile and unusual materials, an interplay of colour and texture, and an ability to make masterful old techniques come to life with contemporary relevance.

Today, I pride myself in saying that I may be the single largest collector of Onyema Offoedu-Okeke’s works. Upon citing some of his early works in the mid 1990s, I saw a pattern that pointed him in the direction of artistic greatness. I have come to the inevitable conclusion that Onyema’s work, no matter the media, defies in a progressive way the stable codes and narrative subjects of traditional art and is meant to be open and ambiguous. Many times, his works are intentionally inconclusive and contradictory, making them aesthetically resistant to the kind of interpretative paraphrases that are often necessary to relate works of art to an artist’s life and environment.

Crucially, Onyema has enormous natural gifts and a temperament that prods him to try virtually anything, no matter how outrageous. He paints a landscape, filled with wild colourful flowers and birds, or a marketplace that drizzles acrylic on canvas with human image forms that play mirage-like visual tricks on the viewer. This is a radical new style of representation, in which objects in the work are suggested by deep abstract signs that minimally intervene in a planar field. Onyema’s originality is evident in this ‘drizzle’ style as well as ‘tapestroid’, ‘rectilinear panellation, and other inventions of his that have become imbedded in the African Aesthetic lexicon. These styles have subsequently been copied and adopted into various and different manifestations by several artists.

My interaction with Onyema exposed me to his deep and incredible sense of spiritual and almost surreal versatility in all endeavors of his profession. His poetic prowess and vast knowledge of literature, folklore, music and ethno-cultural issues are remarkable. It is no wonder he paints with wild and unimaginable intensity. He paints various styles on canvas, working largely from imagination and visual ideas, that no matter how elaborate the work becomes, it still makes itself felt as the central idea of the painting. He once told me that sometimes painting is to him a way of dreaming with his eyes wide open, as if the objects are imbedded in his “mind’s eyes”. Despite the simplicity of some of his works, the subjects of his paintings can sometimes be de- scribed as relatively esoteric with intense emotionality and ex- plosive eroticism. Onyema seems to be deeply engaged with the contemporary world, looking to make history with the political, religious and social issues in

the world around him. His new works radiate more severe wisdom and reflect a greater spirituality. Increasingly, they have collectively come to explore pro- found aspects of experience that are expressed with an inspired balance of sensuous presence and pure thought.

Over the years, Onyema has displayed in his works a rich variety of poetics in the deep registration of the spirit of eclecticism, contradictoriness, cultural collage and curiosity. Today, the many stories of his works which are sometimes parallel, and sometimes divergent, but more often intertwined, represent the story of an intriguing and precious passion. The permeability to differences makes them very contemporary propositions that are open to the future. The extent of their tonal range, the variety of accents, and the ever emerging potential to inject dissonances that accentuate the harmony of the entire dimensions, are the dynamic elements that make Onyema stand out.

In his most recent works, Onyema has assumed an inventive ability confirming an inner strength that is expressive of the dilemma and dialogue between past African art and tradition and the complexities of modern artistic evolution. The veneration for ambiguity offers him a freedom of action and invention that only a few in his field can achieve. His innate talent manifests itself when he ventures into new styles with aesthetic materials and characteristics in any original and innovative way.

For over two decades, I have ardently and fervently collected paintings and sculptures from around the world. In my collection of mostly contemporary African works, I have developed a riveting symbiotic perception of African artistic styles and new directions. I see these styles and directions as the new vehicle that transcends the ordinary, conveying sensualities that inhabit the abstract and ethereal realm of the artistic world.

There is a common assumption that art has its own peculiar validity; that it does not require reference to any other discipline in order to make it viable and consequently to justify its value. In my collection of various artists, I sometimes question whether words like viable or value are applicable to an art style or form. From my perspective, no art work or form is good or bad. European and African art forms and styles are loved and reviled, and neither opinion affects the art itself; it only focuses on the state of mind of the lover or the reviler of the art.

The many questions raised in Onyema’s works address the relationship of traditional African culture and beliefs to the ideas and influences that colonialism had brought into his society and the attendant distortions and distractions. His art deeply probes the ways and manner these conflicting influences were brought into a mantic confrontation with one another. The intensity by which these realities are addressed, is constantly evident in Onyema’s display of works with vast and immense tones of traditional minstrel and foreign paradigms, with visions honed or shaped by the harsh realities of the times.

In doing this book, part of my aim is to strive to convey to the art world that Africa has long been a territory with a strong art history, a domain where many significant works have al- ready left their mark. The inspired tradition of contemporary art has become deeply rooted in Africa. Throughout this book, one can see that the prominence that European art, and/or the Euro/American materials and techniques have achieved over the centuries took its roots or bearing from the inspiration of African art.

Hopefully, this book will provide a platform for an intellectual shift of the discourse of African art away from the almost myopic world view to a global scene, in the promotion of African art by fighting the forces and practices that hinder the acceptability of contemporary African art. Onyema Offoedu-Okeke in many ways has come to redefine how the world looks at African art. He is indeed a pioneer in the art of representing the multiple, shifting realities of con- temporary African art. He represents a major part of the future of African art, and potentially of world art.