Qi Baishi painted shrimp, Yan Xuezhang walked crabs, and this comment was three pointsQi Baishi painted shrimp, many people know. Yan Xuezhang walks crabs, and many people know it. However, the old man Shiraishi did not imitate the shrimp when he painted the shrimp, but painted the texture of the shrimp and the lifelike ecological potential of playing in the water; Although Mr. Xuezhang is known as the "old crab", he does not draw crabs, but shows the truth and persistence of crabs rampant but not overbearing. The highlight of "Qi Baishi Painting Shrimp" and "Yan Xuezhang Walking Crab" lies in the symbolization and specialization of art, which is an artistic expression of individual spirit. 
From the perspective of modern and contemporary Chinese art history, Qi Baishi can probably be regarded as a pioneer and successful person of "North Drift". According to his own account, Qi Baishi moved to Beijing at the age of 55, which was a critical time for art to gradually mature, and Beijing's livelihood from selling paintings forced him to change his method and finally formed his own school. The most famous of Qi Baishi's paintings is his "shrimp", which can be called a must in the painting world, and even became a code name. Qi Baishi began sketching shrimp at the age of 62, and completed the final transformation of shrimp painting at the age of 71, reaching the realm of "resemblance and dissimilarity", and "white stone shrimp" entered the field of vision of painting history. Since then, Qi Baishi's painted shrimp is enough to settle down in Jinghua and have no worries about food and clothing. Although it is said that "Baishi paints shrimp, ten taels and one", most of the seekers do not bargain, pay money to get the painting, and they have fun. In 2003, 45-year-old Yan Xuezhang hung up his boots from Xiangyang and entered the capital, which can be regarded as the first step for him to really start "walking crabs". After several years of hard work and many attempts, Yan Xuezhang also completed the symbolization of the zodiac paintings, and the idea of "rampant and not overbearing" was finally put into practice. Since then, Yan Xuezhang's zodiac painting is enough to settle down in Jinghua, without worrying about food and clothing, Yan Xuezhang has already jumped out of his "crab road". Twenty years have passed, with a flick of his fingers, Qi Baishi painted the safflower ink leaf pie, and Yan Xuezhang walked out of the foreign view of the crab pie. 
Whether it is "Qi Baishi Painting Shrimp" or "Yan Xuezhang Walking Crab", its purpose is the same, which is the pursuit of a better life. If art is the way to live, then they have the same goal. The support behind "shrimp" is a solid pen and ink technique, a deep foundation of life, and the feelings of the people and traditional culture; The support behind "Crab" is a strong ideological belief and the spirit of constantly moving forward. Whether it is "painting shrimp" or "walking crab", Qi Baishi and Yan Xuezhang are both exemplary characters with stubborn personalities and unconventional paths. The old man Baishi took the road of traditional calligraphers and painters, he stood on the shoulders of Wu Changshuo and carried out the changes of slashing and chopping, deleting the complicated and simplifying, and realistically, the creative method of "big freehand, fine feather insects" perfectly unified the fine brushwork and freehand of Chinese flower and bird painting, presenting a new aesthetic connotation and aesthetic schema. Between the old man of Baishi and the old man, the common people often choose the real and interesting "freehand". This is probably an important reason why Qi Baishi's paintings sell better than Wu Changshuo's, because painting shrimp is painting life, and Qi Baishi's paintings are more down-to-earth, more pyrotechnic, and more truly folk-like. Another example is "People Scold Me, I Scold Me", "Tumbler", etc., which have the spirit of critical realism and pay more attention to the "present". In this regard, Yan Xuezhang has the same wisdom, which is most concentrated in the inscription of his small crab body, such as "Be a man with the attitude of being born, like a rabbit staying on the moon; Do things with the attitude of joining the WTO, and rush like a rabbit on the ground. If you live as a dog, you will live more like a human, and if you live as a human being, you will not live as a dog. ”…This has also become one of the characteristics of Yan's paintings. Qi Baishi not only obtained "rice sorghum" from "painting shrimp", but also obtained the inspiration of artistic creation, through the decay method, he abandoned the elegant and solitary traditional literati painting style, and created a strong and bold "red flower and ink leaf" school freehand style, pushing Chinese flower and bird painting to a new peak. Qi Baishi believes that painters should "do my own way, I have my own law", so he often admonished ** "Those who learn from me live, and those who resemble me die". These are more direct expressions of his understanding of "the wonder lies between the similar and the dissimilar", and also more profoundly reveal a regular cognition of the inheritance and innovative development of calligraphy and painting. 
The reason why Yan Xuezhang "walks" crabs is because in recent years, Yan Xuezhang has been walking on the land of the motherland, and there are literary records almost everywhere he goes. Since the development of **, we can continue to read these profound and rich travelogues, which have 470 articles so far, and also let us see the footprints of a thinker and its strong creativity. I wonder if Old Man Shiraishi also lived in this era, would he do some documentation and publicity? Will it also be WeChat and Douyin? History cannot be assumed, but every era has artists of every era, and this is precisely an important reason why history is not lonely. "Walking crabs" is not only Yan Xuezhang's way of "being rampant but not domineering", but also the performance of Yan Crab's journey of thousands of miles is better than reading thousands of books. "Painted shrimp" is the signature dish of the old man Baishi, which is fresh and nutritious, and worthy of collection. Qi Baishi has reached the high realm of "similar and unlike", and his "shrimp" has lived in the concept of the common people, becoming a symbol that can meet people's needs. Old man Shiraishi is a poetic, calligraphy, painting and printing character, his painting is based on a solid and systematic and comprehensive technical training, and the content of his painting is also very extensive, which is a typical traditional literati style but breaks through the connotation of traditional literati. 
Yan Xuezhang's concept is the first, with the idea of "rampant and not overbearing", he can be called the three unique characters of calligraphy, painting and literature, which runs through it is crab thinking, and has his own more systematic theoretical research results. Yan Xuezhang took advantage of the popular complex of the 12 zodiac signs to squeeze out a piece of the world of "schematic ink zodiac" with his thoughts and pen and ink skills. Who of the descendants of Yan and Huang does not have their own zodiac?"What you belong to, what I belong to, no matter what you belong to, the bloodline belongs to Huaxia;The ancestors are in**, the ancestors are in**, no matter in **, they are fundamentally in China. And on this basis, the "small schema" was cultivated into a "big color ink". This is a creative method that is different from traditional painting creation, and has the meaning of "immersive" creation. No matter whether a white cat or a black cat catches a mouse, it is a good cat, whether it is a "shrimp painting" or a "crab", with the "people" soil, it must be "tenacious vitality", as the so-called "master comes from the people". A good "market" is both "drawn" and "walked". 
Old Man Baishi is a long-lived person, if he had died before the decay method was completed, there would be no Qi Baishi in the world who had an influential history. Therefore, longevity is the magic weapon of the old man Baishi, and it also shows that Chinese calligraphy and painting are healthy. Yan Xuezhang will continue to "walk crabs" and will continue to "run rampant and not be domineering". No matter what you look like, you should go on healthily, and as long as you "walk" healthily, there is hope. From carpenter to master, Qi Baishi's gorgeous turn and brilliant freeze frame are related to his "painting shrimp", while Yan Laoxi's "walking" is still on the way. Now many people are painting "Baishi shrimp", and many people are painting zodiac pictures, but now there are not many people like the old man Baishi to study the shrimp, and there are not many people like Yan Xuezhang to walk the crab road with heart, in fact, this itself is a problem worth thinking about, that is, how to achieve creative transformation and innovative development, how to achieve steady and far-reaching results. Behind every glory there is a scarred effort, and every butterfly change is a cocoon that breaks out of the cocoon after hard work. Of course, hard work alone is not enough. The white stone painting shrimp art is high, and the strict crab walks sideways and thinks wonderfully. I was born to use Ren Yao, and I am as pretty as a different style. 20230808 in Xiangyang Rongzhai