in  an 

era
where artistic tropes find
their validation in a fren-
zied  elision  of  aesthetic
precedents, stylistic con-
tinuity becomes a suspect
endeavour.  Not  that  our
ceaseless  investigations
of artistic traditions aren' t
fruitful  in yielding  here-
tofore  unelaborated  dis-
tinctions.  But  too  often
we are left  with a clearer
view of the concepts and
an all too unclear sense of
the  work  itself  and  its
ability to inform the world

Kaego Uche-Okeke: Night,  etching, 12" X 11", 1974.

ULI
AT
THE

SKOTO

OKWUI  ENWEZOR

around us. Artistic tradition does not always
necessitate  an  oppositional  approach.  For
some it remains a wellspring of aesthetic and
cultural  expression  still  worthy  of  explora-
tion by today's artists.

Uli has its basis in innovation. Each succes-
sive  practitioner  of  its  forms  brings  a  new
development  to  its  visual  language  while
paying homage to its traditional forms. Origi-
nally the enclave of Igbo women in Nigeria,
it was a style employed in a complex system
of  body  painting  and  the  creation  of  wall
murals using a vast catalogue of signs, sym-
bols, and patterns to form a distinctive repre-
sentation  of the Igbo universe.

In more recent times however, with the growth
of  urbanisation  and  industrialisation,  tradi-
tional  Uli  began  to  decline.  The  earthen-
walled structures which served as theirframe-
work were abandoned in favour of brick and
concrete  constructions  unconducive  to  the
soft-edged  geometry  and  spiritual  expres-
siveness  of Uli  style. For artists  working in
such an environment  where change  inevita-
bly signals a reformulation  of ideologies and
methodologies,  Uli  comprises  a  bridge  be-
tween  artistic heritage and  innovative style.

Skoto  Gallery's  Uli  Art:  Master  Works/
Recent Works, is a gathering of some of the
major  modern  proponents  of  Uli  style  dis-
playing the diversity inherent not only in the
artists themselves but in the vitality of Uli as
a creative expression. Nearly all the fourteen
artists in the exhibition have their ties to the
University  of  Nigeria  at  Nsukka  either  as
students  or  teachers  (in  some  cases  both)
which  in  1971, with  the  addition  of  Uche
Okeke  to  its  staff  became  a  focal  point  for
artists interested in exploring classical  Afri-
can idioms in a contemporary  environment.
Okeke, having  learned  the fundamentals  of
Uli from  his mother, incorporated them into
the course work at the university by focusing
on the classical  elements  of  Uli as  both  the
bedrock  of  its  contemporary  manifestation
and  a departure  from  anachronistic  tenden-
cies  of  referencing  a  glorious  tradition.  In
Okeke's  theorisation  of  Uli,  he  de-empha-
sised the literal quotation  and aimed  for  the
form  to serve as a catalyst  in the creation of

23

scape  with  its planes of green/blue earth
and yellow sky. Spiral and square motifs
contrast with dripped lines of paint giving
abstract expressionism an Uli  inflection.

Among the most impressive works in the
exhibition were Marcia Kure's paintings.
Ironically  Kure represents one of the few
female  practitioners  from  the  Nsukka
School of Uli despite its beginnings as an
exclusively women's art form. Her Tiger
Mask and Nude Spear borders on pure
abstraction but among the forest of linear
patterns emerge the spears and tiger's eyes
of the title. The title being taken from the
poetry  of  the  eminent  Nigerian  poet
Christopher  Okigbo,  another  prominent
figure at Nsukka whose work continues to
play an influential role in modern Uli style.
Obiora Udechukwu has described his work
as an embodiment of the visual poetics of
Uli (Udechukwu like many of the artists in
the show is also an accomplished poet).

Kure's lines are at once assertive yet highly
spontaneous creating an all-overcomposi-
tion where animal and plant forms merge
only to dematerialise again into pure form.
Her range of mark making is vast yet she
intentionally restricts her methods to evoke
the lyrical linear elements of Uli. Volumes
are  filled  by  a  broadening  of  the
compositional  lines  while  tonal  qualities
are achieved  through cross hatching and
spiral  patterns.  Similarly,  Edeogu's
Untitled employs a fine web of curvilinear
patterns to create a solid orange field from
which  his  figures  seem  to  emerge  and
descend.

Obiora  Anidi  and  El  Anatsui  are repre-
sentative of the sculptural possibilities of
Uli style, its rhetoric into three dimensions
while  maintaining  its careful  balance of
positive and negative space. Anatsui' s multi-
panelled The Loadbearers, uses line like a
sculptor's tool to etch contours and patterns
into wood so decisively that they slash away
at their  surface  to reveal  the  wall  beneath.
Using his trademark chain-saw, Anatsui trans-
forms its destructive power into a generative
force and a metaphor for the social and cul-
tural forces at play in the development of his
aesthetic vocabulary.

Uli art continues to thrive in Nigeria today
because  like any other great cultural  tradi-
tion, its values are timeless. Its lines repre-
sent  a continuity  with  the  artistic  achieve-
ments of the past and the aspirations of a new
generation of artists who work to incorporate
this heritage  into the wealth of other  influ-
ences received from the rest of the world.GR

24

Obiora Udechukwu: Chameleon, soft etching, 11" X 8", 1985

new modes of expression.

What unites these practitioners of Uli art is
the primacy of line; used not only to fill space
but also to empty it out. The line moves the
eye across the surface  to create a wealth of
contoured  images and patterns which com-
bine the more spontaneous elements of paint-
ing with the draughtsmanship of drawing.

Obiora Udechukwu's etching, Chameleon,
contains  a  series  of  superimposed  images
executed  in  varying  degrees  of  stylisation
creating a visual  narrative  of  displacement
and  uncertainty.  Wrapped  in  the  tail  of  a
spectral chameleon, a crowd of people mill
about on an uncertain path while below them
three  faces  stare  out  dazed  and  speechless
(they have no mouths), powerless to offer the

right direction  out of the thickening storm.
The artist, true to Uli style, textures this space
by  impressing  the  lines  of  his  fingerprints
onto the etching to create a milky haze that
envelopes the landscape.

Elsewhere Udechukwu's use of line is mini-
mal yet powerfully expressive. In Season of
Anomy, refined delicate lines seem to burst
open as they wash out into the whiteness of
the paper. Highly calligraphic, the lines acti-
vate  the  empty  space  of  the  paper  which
envelops the figure  at  its centre. Stark and
austere, Udechukwu's work seamlessly com-
bines  social commentary  with the emotive
power, of his formal elements.

ChikaOkeke'sFragments: The Landscape
Within seems reminiscent of a cubist land-