Keane's vivid, shocking and often bleakly comic paintings have focused on many of the most pressing political questions of our age. Appointed the official Gulf War Artist in 1991, his work comments on political, economic and social conflict. He has worked in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Northern Ireland, and his most recent work has concentrated on the themes of assassination, money markets and the influence of Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

This scene represents a certain type of businessman and woman. They are the kind of people who work in huge multinational companies, scouring the world for cheaper labour and new ways to increase profit. They are dressed in the uniform of corporate identity.

The artist calls them monkeys because their gestures suggest they see no evil, hear no evil and speak of no evil. By this he means they do not care about the harm they can do to people's lives and to the environment. In an unequal world, they can exploit very poor people and nations.

There were once three monkeys, and some people said they were wise, and some people said that they were just wise guys.

The first monkey would hear of no evil, only opportunities for investments, the second monkey would see no evil, only business opportunities, and if by some mis-chance, these two monkeys should happen to hear or catch a quick glimpse of any actual evil, well then, the third monkey knew well enough never to speak of it to anyone, ever.

The three monkeys play many strange and dubious games, one of them is called global work, consequence, or democracy?

It's a very hard game to learn, and even harder to win because the monkeys keep changing the rules, and to tell you the truth, they cheat like - well, like monkeys.

I met a traveller from a so-called developing land Who showed me a multi-national company's logo He had found in the desert… Near it, in the sand, Half sunk, a torn photograph of three execs lay, whose frowns, And wrinkled lips, and sneers of cold command, Tell that the photographer well those passions read which yet survived, printed on those lifeless promo things, And beneath the multi-national company's logo these words appear: 'We are Ozymandias: company of companies: Look on our works, all you Multitudes, and rejoice!'
Nothing else remained.

Other than a little debris, Boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.