A beacon for contemporary art in Spain, in the 1980s Luis Gordillo’s practice had already hit its stride in terms of iconography and painting. Patent in his work is an early influence of Surrealism and psychoanalysis (which he underwent in various periods of his life), of the irony of artists such as Francis Picabia (1879-1953), and of . His creative world could not be understood without the inclusion of elements related with mass culture (albeit with highly personal nuances) and biological and technological motifs.

The decade of the 1970s is especially critical for the formation of Gordillo’s iconography. At that time, a personal crisis led him to automatic drawing, consisting in making mechanical, uncontrolled marks on the paper while performing some other task, for instance, talking on the phone. These “telephone drawings” as he called them were later introduced in his paintings, which he presented to the public in an exhibition held in 1971 which had a great impact on the movement from Madrid. This way of drawing exerted an influence on the creative process of his works, starting with a free, disorganised expression that was then transferred to the canvas through successive layers he painted in usually flat colours.

The title of this triptych alludes to what it represents —mouse, landscape and balloon— and illustrates Gordillo’s co-option of icons of mass culture in his work. The first painting of the composition features Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney’s fictional character and an icon for children and the popular imaginary, here painted in a sketchy surreal style. The second part is a landscape with cell-like compositions or what the artist called “Gruyère spaces,” a structure of networks and ducts similar to alveolar membranes which he referred to as “meandering” forms in other works from the period. The closing canvas in the triptych, with the balloon, still showcases the acid tones so characteristic of Gordillo and imitated by other artists from the then burgeoning movement, although it also includes the greys that permeated his works from that period.