Youssef Shawki was born in Beirut in 1973, he studied fine art and intercultural mediation. These combined interests feed into his work, which explores conditions of Lebanese contemporary society and their effects on human beings. Not limiting himself to painting and drawing, Youssef works with various media, including video, performance and text.
Youssef’s process is also rooted in painting the bodily and unconscious experience linked to ego, desire and social expression. Distorted limbs and body parts often appear fragmented and caught between torture and decay. Reflecting both theoretical discourse and study of social trauma, Youssef’s work taps into delicate individual stories of vulnerability and fear.
EDUCATION
2007 MSc St. Joseph University; Beirut, Lebanon
1994 BFA Lebanese University; Beirut, Lebanon
SELECTED SOLO AND GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2014 My Last Century Remains, Al Markhiya Gallery, Doha, Qatar
2013 Acid Fields, Green Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2012 Le Corps Decouvert, Institut Du Monde Arabe, Paris, France
2011 Rebirth: Lebanon 21st Century Contemporary Art, Beirut Exhibition
Center, Beirut, Lebanon
Fluid Being, Green Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE
Hollow Flesh, Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2006 Vues de Beyrouth, Galerie B-312, Montreal, Canada
2005 Iconography/still images, Espace sd, Beirut, Lebanon
1997 Drawing In and Out, Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
SELECTED PRESS
2013 Akkermans, Ari. "Bodies Without World." The Mantle. August 4, 2013
Seaman, Anna. "Acid Fields is Shawki Youssef's reaction to instability
in the Middle East." The National. May 15, 2013
Hewett, Jenny. "Human fragments." Time Out Dubai, May 14, 2013
D'Mello, Rosalyn. "Q&A: Lebanese Artist Shawki Youssef on 'Acid
Fields', His Solo at Green Art Gallery, Dubai." Artinfo India. May 7,
2013
2011 Mcfarlane, Nyree. "Opinionated Lebanese Artist On His Carnal
Creations." Time Out Dubai. May 9, 2011
Ayad, Myrna. "Beneath The Stains Of Time." Canvas magazine.
March-April 2011
Lahoud, Chirine. "A substantial hollow." The Daily Star. January 18,
2011
NOTABLE COLLECTIONS
Barjeeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
SPM (Salsali Private Museum), Dubai, UAE