I think Shen Pengduo's book reflects the "writing" nature of one word. What is "writing" sex? It is the "writing" of writing, I have not examined when the word "writing" began to be widely used in the land of China, but we calligraphers always use the word "book", for example, in a work behind always signed "so-and-so book", not "so-and-so writing". "Writing" has a dictionary interpretation of "pouring out, expressing", which I think is very good if it is used to understand the "creation" state of calligraphy. Because the state of calligraphers creating more should be a state of "pouring out and expressing", right? If this is not the case, then I think it is not the "art of calligraphy". In fact, I don't like the word "calligraphy creation", I don't know if Shen Penglao feels the same way, once calligraphy is crowned with the word creation, it seems that this writing process has become so meticulous and has become so contrived! Too much forced to create more always makes people feel that the farther away they are from the art of calligraphy. Su Dongpo said: "I can't make a book, and I can't ask for it." "In fact, in the final analysis, it is to write at will, to remove all far-fetched constraints, to do whatever is at will, not to be able to do it yourself, and so on. Shen Peng is already eighty years old, after the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, but his works can erase the brand of their era to pursue their own "artistic creation style", style for style and style, and directly approach the high realm of calligraphy art, which is indeed impressed and admired by us! In fact, this "style for style's sake" poison is still rampant in the book world to this day.
Shen Peng's calligraphy also embodies an unusual lyricism. The focus of calligraphy can not only focus on the "word", but more importantly, it is more focused on the "heart". Su Dongpo's words pierced the loss of Calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty, that is, too much emphasis was placed on the "Law" and neglected the grasp of the "heart" of the calligrapher's essence. Just like a musician's stave scale, even if it is well mastered, if the music is composed and neglects to grasp the inner world of its subject, it is probably futile. Shen Peng is a poet, I remember many years ago when I went to Ningbo for an incident, and occasionally saw Shen Pengduo's poetry collection "Three Yu Yincao" but failed to buy a next reading, and later I have always hated it. Of course, I am not saying that poets can write well, but that they have the feelings of poets, and using this feeling to provide an opportunity for a high level of understanding calligraphy. So how to understand shen peng's old calligraphy works are so unowned and often lyrical? We can start with the changes in Shen Peng's old cursive calligraphy. The orthography of Shen Peng's old calligraphy works is not the same as that of many calligraphers who are very "styled" now, and they write that a certain word is written in the same way, or it is similar but small. Shen Peng's multi-character shape should be said to be moving with emotion, so it is not the usual. His casualness is actually more important to highlight its lyricism, which is meant to be emotional.
The essence of Shen Peng's calligraphy works is the grasp of "linearity". Some people say that Shen Peng took the Fa from the Right Ren, some people said that Shen Peng took the Fa Huaisu, and some people said that Shen Peng took the Fa Bada Shanren. We can't deny this, I think Shen Peng is far more than just the three schools of the Fa, I think he is an excellent calligrapher in ancient and modern times, he has been through, if there is no such thing, he is not enough to stand on the commanding heights of the contemporary book world. So why did Shen Peng achieve Shen Peng? What's the trick to him? I think it is actually very simple, that is, the grasp of the "line" of cursive writing. In the final analysis, the thickness of the lines is similar, that is, the lines are written very evenly and quietly. The Eighth Congress did this, Huai Su did the same, many masters are like this, and so are many up-and-coming stars of the contemporary era. I think that the lines that are uniform and quiet are easy to write, difficult to be even at the turn, even and quiet at the turn, and difficult to be even in the movement and jump of the pen. The Eight Greats are evenly quiet, but the Eight Greats are too quiet, he does not jump passionately; Huai Su has a passionate and unrestrained jump, but Huai Su is not quiet enough, Sun Guoting's "Book Spectrum" is very calm at first, and later it is unrestrained. The difficulty of a uniform line is at the beginning and end of the pen, to be able to show no traces, to be able to be consistent up and down. In fact, what is really difficult is to be able to melt into the line, so that it will also contain emotion at the bottom of the pen. Shen Peng can do the bottom of the pen with affection, but the real passion of the leap is still lacking at the bottom of the pen, because the pain of slashing and killing with a pen like a knife may still be different from the Taiji jump of Shen Peng's aesthetic.