“Together we shall save our planet, or together we shall perish in its flames.”

— John F. Kennedy, UN Speech, 1961

During the time I was working on this painting, the Doomsday Clock was set to 90 seconds to midnight by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The painting draws inspiration from this clock as well as the theory of mutually assured destruction, commonly abbreviated as "MAD". I was captivated by the structure of that political and military doctrine: the ultimate equilibrium of security is achieved by the ultimate power of destruction, a mad policy based on rational deterrence.