Portrait of Keane sparks outrage

A PAINTING depicting a Limerick criminal as a saint has sparked anger among friends of a youth he was accused of murdering.

It is based on an infamous photograph of crime figure Liam Keane outside the Central Criminal Court.

Liam Keane caused outrage when he made the two-fingered gesture to photographers outside the court in Dublin in 2003 after a charge of murdering supermarket worker Eric Leamy collapsed. Six state witnesses went back on their statements amid allegations of witness intimidation.

Controversial Ennis artist Martin Shannon has now reproduced the scene on canvas. But in the Shannon version, called A Saint for Sinners, Keane has a red halo around his head. A friend of Eric Leamy said: “I have heard about it and I can’t understand what the artist is up to.”

A supporter of the artist, Gavin Hogg said: “The painting is not about glorification. It’s a comment on how people from different backgrounds perceive people from our society.”

The painting is part of an exhibition entitled Everything You Know About Desire is Dead Wrong, which opens in Limerick on Friday.