Youssef Abdelke

Youssef Abdelke (b. 1951) is an award-winning Syrian artist who was born in Qamishli, in the north-east of the country. He attended the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University, graduating in 1976.

Soon after, Abdelke was taken as a political prisoner and held for two years, after which he was forced into exile. He moved to France in 1981, where he continued his studies in Paris, graduating from the École Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in 1986 and from Paris XIII with a PhD in Fine Arts in 1989.

In 2005, he returned to Syria to organise a major exhibition, settling there again and setting up a studio, although he was arrested in 2013 for activism and held for a five-week period. He continues to live and work there today.

Abdelke is known for using art as a means to express dissent, creating works with various techniques and materials that make commentaries on topical issues such as conflict, injustice and oppression. His practice encompasses engraving and etching on copper and zinc, pastels and collage on paper, and hyper-realistic, detailed drawings done with charcoal, containing symbolic messaging.

Abdelke’s still lifes, in particular, often feature seemingly innocuous or everyday items, such as fruit, vegetables, animals and fish, carefully juxtaposed with other more sinister elements, like weapons, rope or barbed wire, while a splattering of red paint is sometimes incorporated to signify bloodshed or, as Abdelke terms it, a “huge river of blood”. His figurative work, meanwhile, includes both menacing silhouettes, in military garb or suit and ties, and graphically portrayed innocent victims, from lifeless bodies to anguished, grieving relatives.

Abdelke’s works can be found in several prestigious private collections and museums, including: the British Museum in London; the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris; the Amman Museum of Modern Art and the Khalid Shoman Foundation in Jordan; the National Museum of Kuwait; Digne-Les-Bains Museum, France; Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation, Beirut; the Atassi Foundation, Homs, Syria; the Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah; the Jalanbo Private Collection; and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha.

Abdelke held his first solo show in 1973 at Al Houriya Hall in Damascus and since then, his work has featured in personal and group exhibitions worldwide across the decades. Recent solo shows include: ‘Youssef Abdelké’, Galerie Tanit, Beirut (2023); ‘The Little Prince of Gaza’, Dalloul Art Foundation, Beirut (2023); ‘Leads & Artistic Cues from the Arab World’, Dalloul Art Foundation, Beirut (2021); ‘Youssef Abdelke, Une Donation contre la Mort en Syrie’, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (2018); ‘Schwartz’, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg (2018); ‘Nudes. Recent charcoals’, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2017); ‘Nudes’, George Kamel Gallery, Damascus (2017); ‘Bleak and Black’, Galerie Tanit, Munich (2016); ‘Recent Works. Charcoals’, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2014); ‘Youssef Abdelke: New Works’, Galerie Tanit, Beirut (2014); ‘Recent Drawings. Charcoals’, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2010); Al Shaab Gallery, Damascus (2010); Ayyam Gallery, Damascus (2008); Henki Hall, Helsinki, Finland (2006); Khan Assad Bacha, Damascus (2005); Zamalek Art Center, Akhnatoun Gallery, Cairo (2004); Dal Al-Anda Gallery, Amman (2003); Prebendale Gallery, Saint Paul, France (2003); ‘Charcoals and Pastels’, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2002); Mashrabia Gallery, Cairo (2002); L’ Atelier Art Gallery, Alexandria (2002); Al-Riwaq Art Space, Manama, Bahrain (2001); and the Hall of Faculty of Law, Sfax, Tunisia (2000).

Abdelke has also participated in numerous group shows, high-profile art fairs and engraving biennales, among others, over the years, including, the First Arab Biennal, Baghdad, Iraq, in 1974. 

Recent group shows include: ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, Galerie Tanit, Beirut (2025); Art Dubai (2024); ‘Arab Presences: Modern Art And Decolonisation: Paris 1908-1988’, Musée d’ Art Moderne de Paris (2024); ‘Tales, Myths and Legends’, Galerie Tanit, Beirut (2022); ‘Paper Trail: 50 Years Collective Exhibition’, Galerie Tanit, Munich (2022); ‘Un Bestiaire’, Galerie Tanit, Beirut (2021); ‘Cities Under Quarantine: The Mailbox Project’, Villa Romana, Florence (2021); ‘A la Plume, au Pinceau, au Crayon: Dessins du Monde Arabe’, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (2019); ‘Towards the Sublime’, Galerie Tanit, Beirut (2019); ‘In the Age of the New Media’, Atassi Foundation, Dubai (2018); ‘Donation Claude & France Lemand’, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (2018); ‘Give a Chance to the Syrian Refugee Children to go to School’, Art Paris Art Fair, Northern Wall, Grand Palais, Paris (2017); ‘Living Histories: Recent Acquisitions of Works on Paper by Contemporary Arab Artists’, The British Museum, London (2017); ‘Syria: Into The Light’, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai (2017); Beirut Art Fair (2016); ‘10:52’, Ayyam Gallery, Dubai (2016); ‘Rituals of Signs and Transitions (1975-1995)’, Darat al Funun, Amman (2015); ‘My Voice Rings Out For Syria’, BOX Freiraum, Berlin (2015); Abu Dhabi Art (2014); ‘Arab Modernities’, Espace Claude Lemand, Paris (2014); ‘Arab Masterpieces’, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2013); ‘Festival of Small Size Works’, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2013); ‘Art Syria’, Meem Gallery, Dubai (2013); ‘Contemporary Art from Syria’, Yallay Gallery, Hong Kong (2013); ‘Artists in Exile’, Espace Claude Lemand, Paris (2012); ‘Artists from Syria Today’, Galerie Tanit, Beirut (2012); Sharjah Biennial (2011); ‘Artists From Syria Today’, Espace Kettaneh Kunigk, Beirut (2011); ‘Modern Syrian Art at the British Museum’, The British Museum, London (2011); ‘Recent Acquisitions’, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2010); ‘Masterpieces. Inaugural Exhibition’, Espace Claude Lemand, Paris (2008); ‘Ammar Al-Beik’, Ayyam Gallery, Dubai (2008); ‘Paris, Damascus: Crossed Glances’, Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris (2008); ‘Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East’, British Museum, London (2008); Salon D’automne, Paris (2007); ‘Sakher Farzat, Amis et Artistes lui rendent Hommage’, Europia, Paris (2007); ‘Graphic Symposium’, Khartoum, Sudan (2006); ‘Rare Works’, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2006); ‘Word into Art’, Bloomsbury House, London (2006); ‘Homage to Shafic Abboud’, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2005); ‘Syrian Contemporary Art’, Leiden, Europ Art, Geneva (2003); 6th International Triennale of Prints, Chamaliere, France (2003); ‘Imagining the Book’, Alexandria, Cairo (2002); 8th International Biennale, Cairo (2001); and International Biennale, Sharjah (2001).

Abdelke was the recipient of The Nile Award for Arab Artists, Cairo, in 2018. His oeuvre includes posters, book designs and illustrations for periodicals and children’s books.