Born in Damascus in 1976, Elias Izoli is a self-taught artist whose creativity was harnessed at an exceptionally young age. At just seventeen years old, shortly after deciding to pursue art seriously, he was given his first solo exhibition at the Russian Cultural Centre in Damascus. Virtually unheard of in an art world that is all too often obsessed with age and pedigree, Izoli has continued to raise eyebrows ever since. With consummate draftsmanship, a marked command of colour and an intensive approach to capturing his subjects, his compositions defy conventional portraiture.The latest to join Ayyam Gallery’s incubator programme for emerging talent, Izoli has already seized the attention of the Middle Eastern art scene with works that were aggressively vied for and sold far above estimate at recent public sales