John Keane Praise the Mouse, 1999

The recognisable silhouette of Mickey Mouse in Praise the Mouse has been a recurring theme in Keane’s work since it famously featured in one of his most controversial paintings, Mickey Mouse at the Front. This work was created during his tenure as the Imperial War Museum’s official war artist of the Gulf War and depicts an illustration of the Disney character in a Kuwait City children’s park, which had been used during the hostilities as a latrine by Iraqi soldiers. Keane was struck by the hegemony evident in this clash of cultures, seeing it as a symbol of the dominant US influence on Kuwait. The ensuing furore highlighted the discrepancy between the public expectation of the war artist's role, and the artist's compulsion to reflect on his own experience.