Early career

Sharkey has had many different career paths, including being a chef, a fisherman, a singer-songwriter, and a TV presenter. He was Ireland's first ever bi-racial television presenter on a show called Megamix, and presented British television music show The Roxy from 1987.^[8] He was also briefly a photographer and a model, photographed by David Bailey.^[9]

Sharkey regularly collaborated with Irish rock band, The Boomtown Rats, and German disco group Boney M., writing lyrics and melodies for both.^[10] He wrote the latter group's 1989 single Everybody Wants to Dance Like Josephine Baker.^[11]

Sharkey had a small part in Father Ted, playing a priest named Father Shaft in two episodes. His most famous line came after a nun, seeing his dark complexion, asked him what he thought of all the work being done in Africa by priests; he replied in his thick Irish accent, "Sure I wouldn't know, I'm from Donegal."^[12] He was also a farmhand in the Irish TV series Celebrity Farm where he was the fourth farmhand to be evicted.^[13] Sharkey's difficult relationship with the other celebrity contestants was the subject of news media attention. He refused to join cast members on a reunion show on RTÉ One's The Late Late Show, choosing to appear on the rival network, TV3's The Dunphy Show instead.^[14][15]

Irish singer and songwriter Bob Geldof was the first person to buy a Sharkey painting,^[16] with other collectors of his work including Charles Saatchi, Rosie Huntington Whitley, Michael Portillo, Courtney Love, Whitney Houston, Matt Lucas, and the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins.^[12]

Art

Sharkey has been a full-time artist since 1992. He was described by Ireland's Sunday Independent as "A True Irish Legend"^{[citation needed]} and by Sky News as "Pure Genius",^{[citation needed]} he and his provocative canvas painting "You May Now Kiss the Groom", was also listed on CNN's "Monday's Intriguing people" in 2010 for its proposition of Gay Marriage.^[17] His art is considered abstract, modern work, with bright, textured colours. His style is also regarded as stylistically diverse with many of his works being visually different from each other.

He has had exhibitions in Dublin, London, Ibiza, Amsterdam and New York City. In 2007 his What Colour Are Kisses? exhibition sold out completely within 48 hours. He has had gallery shows solely dedicated to his work in Dublin, Donegal, Mayo, Boyle, Ibiza and London's Mayfair. His painting Roisin raised €26,100 in 2008 for People in Need in the RTÉ Telethon.^[8] His work has included, Samantha Mumba's bust and 'Moolah' (a life sized cow covered in €18,000 of real banknotes – during the height of Ireland's Celtic Tiger phenomenon). Sharkey paintings were also included in the music video of Estelle and Kanye West's 2008 hit single, American Boy.^[18]

His Public Enemy Number One exhibition was on a twelve date tour of the world (including New York, Tokyo, Rome and Rio de Janeiro).^[19] The public figures featured in the exhibition included Jordan as Myra Hindley, Barack Obama wearing Ku Klux Klan robes (made from U.S. flags), the Pope marrying a gay couple, and Angelina Jolie & Madonna passing each other in a supermarket aisle pushing trolleys full of multi-racial children.^[20]

In 2013, Sharkey filed a lawsuit against Octagon Films and Irish broadcast network RTÉ for unauthorized use of his artwork in Irish crime series "Love/Hate". He also filed for damages over the portrayal of his work being "liked by a dangerous killer and drug addict".^[21][22] The case was eventually settled out of court in late 2014.^[23]

In August 2016, Sharkey was arrested in Dublin over alleged art theft. He denied these allegations as the purportedly stolen paintings were his. He told police that he had destroyed the paintings in 2014 because they "were inferior works of art". Claiming he set them on fire in an alleyway as "they just weren't very good and I didn't want them showing up at auction".^[24] In October, he was ordered by a Circuit Civil Court to pay €5,000 in damages and legal fees of another €10,000 over highly defamatory Twitter comments.^[25]