Che Pengfei
Brother Jianxian is my old colleague and friend, and in a sense, he is also my calligraphy teacher. The reason why they know each other deeply and have deep friendship is mainly due to their similar interests, similar opinions and sincere sympathy. Over the past 30 years of their relationship, he has devoted himself to writing and art, and his innate character of being upright, upright, honest and righteous has remained unchanged. The reason why he has high achievements, great influence, and even extraordinary prestige in the calligraphy world is related to this.
He is a calligrapher in the true sense and a martyr of the art of calligraphy. It is no exaggeration to say that he came to this world just for calligraphy. Although the title of the book has long been enjoyed, the basic skills training courses of getting up at dawn, grinding ink, laying paper, and writing for several hours over the past few decades are unbeatable. I remember that when I worked with him at Shanghai Painting and Calligraphy Publishing House, he went to work at 8 o'clock in the morning, but he came at 6 o'clock every day and spent two hours practicing calligraphy before going to work. He often said that words are produced by seeing and practicing with hands, rather than speaking by mouth and running by legs. In the early 1980s, he participated in an editing class organized by the Shanghai Publishing Bureau, and the two sat at the same table. If he encounters a boring and irrelevant class, he will leave the class and practice calligraphy with a pen. He will concentrate on it and keep waving his hands. The lecturer will think that he is particularly engaged in listening to the class, and he will look at him with approval from time to time, which makes me, who is watching clearly, laugh.
Around the 1970s, he mostly wrote with a hard pen, which was strong and powerful. After that, he began to use a long-edged pen, pointing to the top of the pen pole. I was surprised and asked why he held the pen so high. It was difficult to control. He said with a smile that writing like this is condescending, which allows him to show off his merits and give him freedom so that he can enjoy himself as much as he wants. Sure enough, the style of calligraphy has changed since then. It is vigorous but profound, majestic but strange, and the writing style is open and majestic, forming Wu's typical style.
Brother Jianxian’s personality and style of writing are both extraordinary and thought-provoking. His death at a time when his art was at its peak will be a great loss to the Chinese calligraphy community. But I believe his personality charm and artistic spirit will last forever!