How is contemporary African art perceived by local Nigerian artists? Even before Nigeria's independence in 1960, there was an intense engagement with the concept of art. Painters like Ben Enwonwu and Uche Okeke aimed to actively shape the post-colonial society by merging international concepts with local terminologies and practices. The author analyzes these approaches against the backdrop of self and foreign images of key figures and traces the development of an art scene that, in its theoretical foundation and artistic practice, continues to juggle between an avant-garde self-understanding, the local market, and the expectations of a globalized art world.