Completely self-taught and unable to speak Arabic, the French artist Julien Breton has developed his own unique form of virtual calligraphy, based on a Latin-style alphabet and inspired by an Arabic and Eastern aesthetic. With a multi-cultural take on calligraphy, Breton’s work incorporates the cultural identity and style of East and West, often taking inspiration from western philosophy, hip hop and street art.

He works with calligraphy with the desire to transcend the very meaning of the sentence to generate a clean aesthetic – a balanced form that stands out from the arbitrary letter composition that makes up a word or phrase. His lack of knowledge of codes, rules of calligraphy enabled him to detach himself from any coercion and rules. That allowed him to mix styles with the desire to create a universal language, without barriers or code.

Despite not being able to speak Arabic, Julien Breton he says that everyday brings him closer to the language and culture. He has been presented by Lahd Gallery for the first time at Arabic Calligraphy: The Art of the Written Word in 2011. He has then won an award in light-graff category during the international Urban Arts Awards and 2 Bronze Awards to the Dubai Lynx Awards for the communication campaign “It’s our game”.