Radioactive Peace Offering

I made this painting in 2018, while thinking about the geopolitical anxiety surrounding the nuclear tensions relating to both North Korea and Iran. The green crinkled surface is an abstracted mountain landscape that subtly reduces in size as it recedes to the horizon near the top of the image. The edges of the painted surface are zigzagged, resulting from the use of pinking scissors. Pinking scissors are normally associated with cutting fabric. The juxtaposition of landscape and cutting fabric conjures memories of flying and the superimposed arbitrary patchwork quilt of human activity below. The soft, flocked lines are reminiscent of contrails ascending from the landscape. They leave the borders of the painting for distant lands. The semi-opaque line is glow in the dark paint, and a not so subtle reference to the word "radioactive" in the title. I settled on the title Radioactive Peace Offering to increase the possible misunderstanding of double meanings - perhaps something in common with high stakes international communication. For example, a radioactive peace offering could mean an exchange of radioactive materials, such as the North Koreans surrendering arms. It could also be akin to a radioactive trojan horse given to an unsuspecting host. It could be something that appears at first glance to secure peace but ends up causing conflict. Or it could simply be the  threat of mutually assured destruction resulting in peace.