Youssef Abdelke is one of Syria's leading artists. A respected engraver and master draftsman, he is a great observer of living phenomena, and while he is precise and methodical in his approach, there is also a poetic side to his work.

With an extensive oeuvre that has been decades in the making, his subject matter has ranged from highly political social satire to meditative still lifes that are unassuming yet powerful.

As such his work has been influential to a number of young and emerging artists in the Arab world. Born in Kamishli in 1951, he has lived in Paris since the late 1970s, shortly after graduating from Damascus University's Faculty of Fine Arts. In 1986 he received a diploma in Etching from the Ecole Ayyam Auctions...