Youssef Abdelké
Schwarz
Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg
Youssef Abdelké
Youssef Abdelké (b. 1951, Qamischli, Syria) lives and works in Damascus, Syria. He studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus and graduated in 1976 with a project on Black September - portraying the massacres of Palestinians in Jordan in September 1970 - that revealed a militant artist who, ever since, relentlessly fights for freedom and denounces violence.Known for his sympathies, and for his political activism, Abdelké was arrested for nearly two years in 1978, and then moved to Paris and graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux- Arts in 1986 and from the Sorbonne University as a doctoral student in Fine Arts in 1989. Unable to return home, he lived and worked in exile in Paris for twenty-four years. In 2005, he decided to travel back to Damascus, and managed to safely get through border security; but in 2010 his passport was confiscated, and he was arrested again for five weeks in 2013. Read more
Gallery Exhibitions
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2018
-
Schwarz, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
2014
-
Galerie Tanit, Munich, Germany
2006
-
Henki Hall, Helsinki, Finland
2005
-
Khan Asaad Pasha; organized by Atassi Gallery, Damascus, Syria
2004
-
Galerie Akhenaton, Cairo, Egypt
2003
-
6th Chamaliéres International Triennial for Etching, France
2002
-
Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris, France
2001
-
Al-Riwaq Art Gallery, Manama, Bahrain
2000
-
Hall of Faculty of Law, Sfax, Tunisia
1999
-
Green Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE
1995
-
Atassi Gallery, Damascus, Syria
1987
-
Ornarina Art Gallery, Damascus, Syria
1974
-
Al-Shaab Gallery, Damascus, Syria
1973
-
Al-Houriya Hall, Damascus, Syria
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019
-
Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE
-
Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland
2018
-
Frieze London, London, UK
2015
-
Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan
2011
-
Sharjah Biennial 10: Plot for a Biennial, Sharjah, UAE
2009
-
Paris, Damascus: Crossed Glances, National Museum of Damascus, Damascus, Syria
2008
-
Paris, Damascus: Crossed Glances, Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris, France
-
Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East, British Museum, London, UK
2007
-
Salon d’Automne, Paris, France
2001
-
Sharjah International Biennial, Sharjah, UAE
-
8th International Cairo Biennial, Cairo, Egypt
1997
-
Cracovia International Biennial for Etching, Poland
-
Chamalières International Triennial for Etching, France
1995
-
7th International Etching Biennial Taiwan
1976
-
Inter-graphic Triennial, Berlin, Germany
Public Collections
-
– The British Museum, London, UK
-
– Institut de Monde Arabe, Paris, France
-
– The National Museum of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait
-
– Amman Museum of Modern Art, Amman, Jordan
-
– Digne-Les-Bains Museum, Digne-les-Bains, France
-
– Dalloul Art Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon
-
– Atassi Foundation, Homs, Syria
-
– Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar
-
– Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
-
– Darat Al Funun: The Khalid Shoman Foundation, Amman, Jordan
Education
1989
-
PH.D. in Fine Arts, Sorbonne University, Paris, France
1986
-
Diploma in Etching, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts Paris, France
1976
-
Faculty of Fine Arts Damascus, Syria