Yahoo Finance My first boss: Sharkey, top Irish artist
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I tend to judge people by what they do and not what they say. When I come across a worker or grafter I have the greatest admiration for them, whoever they are, as laziness is an awful scourge.
As a songwriter I was quite independent – I wrote songs for Boney M and Bob Geldof – and I was my own boss in that sense. When it came to food and cooking I worked my way to head chef at the Hard Rock Cafe in London in the 1980s.
Cyril, who was general manager, turned up day after day and was the first in and last out. You learn by example. For me it was a great lesson that you may stuff it up but do your best and you can walk away with your head up. Cyril taught me that.
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I started washing dishes and within two weeks I was promoted onto salads, then to ice creams, which was a big deal. Within six months, I was head chef and cooking 1,000 burgers a day. I loved the excitement and energy. There would be 200 people at the door when you came to work in the morning, you would have a hangover but the challenge was always worth taking up.
When I was six months old, I was adopted by a family in Donegal. They were an unusual family and it wasn’t a very happy experience. But, aged 12, I was put into foster care and it was tough for a child dealing with abandonment and trauma. I had no way of processing it until I started painting and felt that I could escape into a portal where I felt okay – but I didn’t show the paintings to anyone.
In my late 30s I met this guy called Ade Antigha, a genius in the world of art. He came to my house and I showed him the pictures I had hidden away. He asked me if I had any more. He got all excited and asked who had taught me. "I teach people everyday, they paint the same bowl of fruit," he said. He had seen something different.
I see myself as the new Jean-Michel Basquiat. For me, I have my own style and it’s lovely when people see a painting as a Sharkey. Basquiat was the only black artist who I knew of who managed to get through the glass ceiling, and he was dead at 27.
My first exhibition in Dublin sold out in 24 hours and my first auction of 172 paintings sold out in one hour 43 minutes. I’m an artist not an accountant and I was always reinvesting in myself with paints, studios, and framings. I always felt the best investment I could make was in me.
I made four and a half million Euros but ended up spending five million and being pretty much homeless after the 2014 financial crisis, which was a shock. I didn’t spend much time thinking about how I got there, more how the hell I was going to make sure it won’t happen again.
It’s what I’ve been doing ever since, paying into the bank of Sharkey. I had to be self-motivated and resilient. It made me more fearless and focused as I have to make sure the train continues on the track.
I now have these collectors who I never had before. One Dubliner, who is a Francis Bacon and Picasso collector, purchased 20 paintings from me last year. When I saw his collection I asked him why he could buy my art when he could afford anything. He said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like it before, it's so original’.
In the art world, many people are afraid to do what I do. Sometimes what they are selling isn’t marketable. I’ve now passed 10,000 paintings sold – I know that I am good at what I do and customers love what I do.
Yes, you do need two things; two very large balls are an important part of being your own boss. There are no guarantees and there is always risk in life. But you’ve got to grab it and go for it.
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When my exhibition opens on Westbourne Grove, it’s my gallery with my paintings, I am self taught and all the work that got me where am I get the pat on the back for.
Being dyslexic, I was acutely aware that I wasn’t going to fit into the normal structure of working under a boss. I branched out and became my own boss early on and took risks.
I wish more people would be their own bosses. The trajectory of my artwork is set to go into the millions over the next five years. When I go to New York a set will be sold at £1m each for the four. That’s why it’s so exciting to be in this position, that I have done it on my own and I know where this train is going.
Sharkey London opens on Notting Hill’s Westbourne Grove on 1 November exclusively selling his own artwork in an exhibition called We Are All Going to Die!, followed by a New York gallery opening in 2024
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