Kevin Sharkey eh - what an operator: homosexual, heterosexual, professional victim, commercial hero, paramour of Sinead O'Connor (well OK, he claimed a one-night stand), artist manque but above all self-publicist extraordinaire. For the past few years we've had RTE, the Irish Times, the Tribune, The Independent and various light-weight magazines publish uncritical puffs for this creature - invariably telling the gullible Irish art parvenus that here is a good investment. We've even had the sainted Aidan Dunne, kindly art critic, interviewed on RTE and not having the balls to state the obvious about his artistic pretensions. His most apparent talent is for self promotion - how did someone so obviously devoid of talent get so many editors to promote him. His forte is for sub-Pollock abstract shite, dashed off.
However, his latest ploy has rendered all the aforementioned articles and uncritical puffs both ridiculous and pernicious. Sharkey has announced, through various media ads, a closing down sale at his gallery whereby all works are reduced by 50%. Now if I had followed the advice of the various organs of opinion that advocated investing in this guy, I would feel a tad disgruntled to find the value of my investment halved in one fell swoop. But therein lies the problem of following fashion and the trendy rather than obeying the evidence of your eyes.
