The art of stopping before the surprise disappears

Artist Sean Harte’s lifelong love of football recently led him to rekindle memories of watching his favourite player Roy Keane, including the not so magical moments on the pitch. Harte’s Sent Off series capture every one of Keane’s red cards in oil pastel. The surreal pieces have a playful yet unfinished edge. Slightly blurred and unfocussed, each depicts the fuzzy memories formed in Harte’s imagination. It’s an intentional looseness born from a creative process where spontaneity comes after structure. Harte spends time researching, recalling and ‘musing’ on a particular moment. Then he picks up the oil pastels and in his words lets ‘whatever happens, happen.’

Harte’s process relies on a balance between structure and intuition. One gives the other the freedom to work. There is art in knowing when to switch gears from planning and shaping an idea to making it. Too soon, and the idea can lose direction, plan too long, and creativity is too constrained. Ideas need direction, but make sure there is room for the unexpected to appear.