Duke Asidere is a painter whose work has been shown to several audiences in and outside Nigeria. He was born in 1961 to a father who was a sailor and a mother who was a full-time trader. As a youngster his father was often gone, leaving his mother to care for him even while she continued with her business. The time he spent at home alone with his mother would in the future, form both inspiration and fulcrum for his art. The seeds for being an artist were planted in Duke Asidere’s mind when he was a child. Duke had a culture of drawing at home and school. He said in an interview that everyone was drawing superheroes and there was a studio at school. Duke took his rudimentary interest and went on to study at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria and graduated in 1988 at the top of his class. He returned to study for a Master of Fine Arts in Painting under the tutelage of Gani Odutokun and Prof Jerry Buhari.

After his studies, Asidere joined the art department at Federal Polytechnic, Auchi. He joined the school’s art department in 1990. Along with Ben Osaghae and Sam Ovraiti, Asidere would play a major role in putting Auchi firmly on the Nigerian art map. The Auchi artists worked together and influenced each other. The result of this osmosis was a group that gloried colour. For them, colour subjugated form, structure – everything else. It was to be enjoyed and celebrated.

In 1995, Asidere moved to Lagos to set up his art studio. In his art, he explored the streets of Lagos – its energy and chaos. He explored the state of society – the insanity of politics, the decrepit infrastructure and the subtle degradation of society. He also explored, as he always had, the strength and bravery of the women around him, a constant homage to the mother.

He did a brief stint at the Delta State Polytechnic Art Department, Ughelli. The Art School was new and needed qualified lecturers to guide it through its infancy. He agreed to spend some time there and taught art between 2003 and 2005.
Although Asidere is a painter, he expresses his love for colour through various means. His works can be found in oil on canvas; he also uses graphite on pastels, crayons, engraving and some others. He also incorporates raw materials like newspaper clippings in his work. Notable in Asidere’s work is his preoccupation with the female form. Asidere thanks to his mother and a home full of women formed his preponderance with the feminine form. For this artist, the woman represents sheer strength and grit; it is no matter therefore that he makes the feminine form carry the weight of the message in his art.

Asidere’s work takes on big themes. His work writes Prisca Sam Duru in the Vanguard Newspaper covers, “topical issues in society with strong global appeal”. For example, Asidere’s work, One Man, One Generator contains specs of light on a dark canvas and is a searing commentary on the epileptic position and behaviour of electricity in Nigeria. That work summarises the criticism thrown at Nigeria's electricity and energy situation for many lightless years. Asidere has also said by himself that his work is a response to his environment; indeed he tries to capture the essence of things and people.