Self-taught from the beginning
“I was really amazed when I saw other people doing sand art performances.” In the hands of an artist, a tray of sand can go through endless seemingly magical transformations in an instant. It was this inspiration that launched Mario’s dazzling new life. “I learned by watching videos on YouTube.” He groped his own way forward and taught himself without a teacher.
Countless times he would work through the night trying to master this art form. His most frequent subject-matter was the faces of his parents and family members. Although his hands became coarse and cracked from the grains of sand, and his eyes grew sore and sensitive from the fluorescent light beneath the glass panel of the lightbox on which he worked, Mario’s determination to follow his dream gave him inexhaustible resolve.
To enable more people to see sand painting performances, Mario plucked up his courage and entered the street artist selection process. In 2015, he became the first foreign migrant laborer in Taiwan to be licensed as a street artist, in his case in Taipei City as well as Hsinchu city and county.
After his first appearance on television, Mario could not contain his excitement and immediately called home. “My father, who had suffered a stroke many years previously and was unable to talk, kept happily shouting out ‘Ah! Ah!’” People were amazed by the live sand art performances, with their animation-like effect and backlit colors.
Mario’s greatest strength lies in the realism of his images. Be it portraits, buildings, text or logos, clients are invariably impressed by the lifelike images. Besides doing charity and commercial performances, Mario has even been invited by the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei to do a sand art performance at a Philippines state banquet.
Mario has realized a dream by organizing fashion shows for migrant workers, building a platform where everyone can show their talents. (courtesy of Mario Subeldia)