Youssef Abdelké was born in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, in 1951.
He studied engraving in Damascus and Paris, and over the course of 50 years has held dozens of solo exhibitions in several world capitals, as well as participating in hundreds of art events and group exhibitions in different countries.
Abdelké was a political opponent of the Assad’s dictatorial regime in Syria since the 1970s, and was exiled in Paris for a quarter of a century between 1981 and 2005, during which time he obtained a PhD in art history.
He created hundreds of posters and thousands of political cartoons critical of oppressive, corrupt and puppet-like regimes.
Abdelké’s work tackles various themes and takes in several phases and techniques. Engraving was his primary medium during the 1970s and 1980s, while pastels were introduced in the 1990s.
For the past 30 years, he has focused on the genre of still life in black and white, using charcoal on paper, pushing this familiar genre towards themes of violence, symbolism and signifiers of a clear humanity.
Since 2011, his work has reflected the Syrian revolution, depicting dozens of martyrs and the mothers of martyrs. However, the revolution - as is well known - turned into a devastating sectarian civil war, killing hundreds of thousands, displacing millions, and destroying thousands of villages and homes. This left him despairing of changing the situation, so his paintings returned to their ongoing theme: still life and all its connotations.
Abdelké has lived and worked in Damascus since 2008.
