Ancient writings of East and West inspire calligraphy

The calligraphic works of Zhang Weining grab their audience with a feeling of both the familiar and the unfamiliar. The characters look, from afar, like Chinese, but a closer examination leaves people confused — no wonder, they are scripts of Linear B, a form of writing used by some Aegean civilizations millennia ago.

The mixed emotions of familiarity and confusion intrigue Zhang, a young artist who divides his time between China and the United Kingdom, and inspire him to create pieces of calligraphy with a cross-cultural approach. He shares his appreciation of Eastern and Western writings — in which the values of two different cultures are embodied — in calligraphic pieces and videos at his exhibition, Between Silence and Sign, at 798 Art Zone in Beijing.