Across his career in the 1990s and early 2000s, Roy Keane, the Ireland and Manchester United footballer, was a widely decorated midfielder with a relentless will to win. He also had his share of controversies, which included being famously sent off on several occasions. These have now been documented in Irish painter Seánie Harte’s Red Card series, which marks the 11 times Keane received his marching orders while playing for Manchester United.
The colour-filled paintings, done in a loose, figurative style, somewhat resemble the work of Elizabeth Peyton – if she’d used Sky Sports’s Premier League Years for inspiration rather than louche bohemians and Britpop luminaries. Although Harte’s oil pastel paintings often depict acts of aggression or their aftermath, their light look, with a hint of the absurd and nostalgia, gives a feel of visual one-liners. In the years since Keane retired as a player and stepped away from management, he has become better known as a pundit and podcaster, with a no-nonsense approach to analysis and a sharp sense of humour.
Some years ago, on the hugely popular Stick to Football podcast that he co-hosts with other former players, he recounted his array of red cards with a typical bluntness and humour. Harte remembered the matter-of-fact manner in which Keane discussed getting sent off in 1995 for stamping on Crystal Palace’s Gareth Southgate. Gareth lunged at me,” Keane says on the podcast.
Everyone thinks Gareth is a nice guy. I’ll tell you … he tried to break my leg!” This was when inspiration struck. I ended up doing one or two, and then I got a bit of traction and I thought: Oh I need to do them all now.” Each painting is paired with a one-liner from the footballer himself.
You have to put down a marker,” features the aftermath of a challenge that leaves Gus Poyet of Chelsea writhing in pain during an FA Charity Shield match. Harte first posted the images on Instagram and sells prints online. His exhibition, Sent Off: Paintings of Every Roy Keane Red Card opens soon at the Hen’s Teeth space in Dublin.
They’ve had a big response since he first put them out last year, though he admits: “I know Roy is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here.” Among those to get in touch with praise was one of the directors of Saipan, the film inspired by Keane’s falling out with Ireland manager Mick McCarthy ahead of the 2002 World Cup. Harte, 36, lives in Dublin where he trained as a graphic designer. He only returned to painting two years ago for some distraction.
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