《环球时报》人物专访——苏大宝

   2010年9月18日，苏大宝先生在上海接受了《环球时报》GLOBAL TIMES记者的人物专访。畅谈中国沙画艺术。

原文链接地址：http://shanghai.globaltimes.cn/people/2010-10/577262.html

以下为采访全文：

A degree from the school of life

——Leading sand artist took the tough road to fame and fortune

September 26 2010   By Hou Shuqi

http://s8/middle/5a0526a6t75108687e607&690

Su Dabao walked out of his art studies at the Beijing Institute of Education when he was 19 years old and has not stopped studying since. Now the country's leading performance sand artist, on the way to his success the 29-year-old studied acting, worked as a film extra, a ventriloquist, a magician, a stand-up comedian, and lived for a year in a slum.

  Sand painters mix and pour different colored sands to create dazzling pictures - Su does it on stage with music and lighting adding to the magic of the moment. But that is a long way from where he started.

Su came from a mountain village in Hunan Province where his father was director of a small rural hospital. Su learned at an early age about performing by accompanying his grandfather who had a knack for imitating birds and wild animals. Su loved hearing his grandfather mimic birds and pigs and dogs - and he began doing this himself.

Su went through school developing some skills as a young artist and in 2000, when he was 19 thought he would realize his dream and began studies at the Beijing Institute of Education. For him at that stage, Beijing, the capital of China and the cultural center of the country, was the perfect place. But, after one year's study, Su was aware that his family was struggling financially to pay his tuition fees, and thinking about what he learned at school and what he learned in life, he decided to attend the "university of life."

His father learned about this decision much later when he watched a television show last year. "I didn't know that he dropped out of the art school until I watched the show A Date With Lu Yu when my son told the truth in front of strangers. I was completely shocked and also upset that I was not able to afford to keep him studying at the Beijing institute," Su's father said.

Two weeks after leaving school, Su signed up for an acting course for 200 yuan ($29.84). He studied hard and became an outstanding student. "He was a brilliant student and studied seriously. Once he had to act as a junkie in a try-out - some of the audience were moved to tears as they watched him crying and rolling on the ground in pain." Filmmaker Gao Tonglin, who founded the acting school, recalled his early encounters with Su which led to them becoming close friends.

They were tough times. Su lived in a slum for 18 months paying 80 yuan rent per year. "This helped forge my character and gave me the perseverance for the future," Su said. "To survive, I sold roses and did handstands on the street, sometimes earning just 10 yuan a day."

Things got a little better and he had three months work as a film extra. But then he realized he would never become a film star with his average looks. Yet he decided to stay in show business. He began learning different skills and proved himself in stand-up comedy, revues and ventriloquism. He had a reputation for being dependable and hard-working.

He was still drifting from show to show without much of a future when he decided to take up magic. But there was a problem - tuition fees once again."Magic is secret and no one will teach you unless you pay a lot in tuition fees but as a poor street performer I couldn't afford that," Su said. "So I concentrated on learning magic by myself. I bought more than 1,000 VCDs on conjuring and studied every possible Internet site I could."

Su never stopped thinking about how to improve himself and decided that innovation was the key to the market.

And so it was that he became a sand painter. He had been watching sand painting on-line since he first discovered it in 2004. It was then practiced mainly by foreign artists. When a friend organizing a major event in 2006 bemoaned the fact that there were no Chinese sand painters and that he could not get a foreign sand painter to visit China in time, Su assured his friend there would be a sand painter at the show. His friend trusted Su and agreed to take a chance on him.

With 20 days to go, Su rushed home and began learning the art of sand painting, preparing the props needed and brushing up his artistic skills. "Stepping into sand painting was a coincidence but my life had already prepared me for that moment after six years of working hard and developing the range of skills needed."

The first performance was a nightmare. He can remember nothing of the actual painting. "When the music stopped for my performance my mind went completely blank. I don't know how I finished the painting. I thought it was a total failure but then the audience began applauding," said Su. "Later I learned there were several officials from the Organizing Committee of Olympic Games and teachers and students from the Chinese Academy of Fine Art. From their enthusiastic reception I was exhilarated and I could see the potential. I knew sand painting was going to be my art."

He did not copy the sand painting that had become popular overseas but developed his own style using elements of Chinese art. In Shanghai on September 17, Su completed sand paintings at the opening ceremony of the Chongming Forest Tourism Festival.

Even though he didn't finish his own college education, Su is enthusiastic about art education.

"The current education system doesn't help students improve their creative capabilities. Now I am trying to develop a new study model based on my own artistic experiences which, I hope, can help many children," Su said. "Children all love to play with sand."