"I loved it, but I spent it with the faith that there'd be more money. I was never going to sit on a suitcase of money out of fear."
""Once you go broke and homeless, you realise life still goes on," he says. "I went on the dole for a little while and I ate, and my dogs ate and it was okay. I didn't have money to buy Jo Malone candles at that point. I didn't have the luxury of, you know, really good bed linen at that point.""
""What I remember about being in a homeless hostel, was all I was thinking about wasn't, 'how did I end up here?' It was, 'how the f*** do I get out of this place and never come back?'""
""I never bought property. I don't have a pension. I don't have a big nest of savings. I've always just put the money I've made back into my career. And I've done that by painting, by getting better, by opening galleries. They don't always work out. You don't know till you try.""
Kevin Sharkey experienced significant financial success and spent lavishly, expecting continued income. He reinvested earnings into his art career by opening galleries and promoting his work. The 2008 financial crash devastated his finances and within a decade he became homeless. During homelessness he relied on unemployment support, fed himself and his dogs, and recognized the impermanence of money. He used homelessness as motivation to return to painting and escape that situation. He now runs galleries in Ireland and Portugal, continues reinvesting in his career, and deliberately avoids property ownership, pensions, or large savings.
Read at Irish Independent
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