This work was painted at Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, Canada, during the summer of 1988. McLean uses a particularly fluid paint to make his large paintings, allowing him to work quickly and spontaneously. In 'Escalator' he has used large bands of colour arranged in a balanced and harmonious sequence. McLean's paintings typically contain these distinctive lozenges and strokes of brightly coloured paint. The translucence of the paint in 'Escalator' gives the painting a lightness, which combines with the lyrical use of colour to suggest a spiritual dimension to the painting.