I painted this in the mid seventies.

I had grown up with the threat of mutual annihilation. I remember the Cuban missile crisis. We did not expect to go home again. The Russians were heading for Cuba with missiles and the USA promised to sink them. We all knew that if that happened there would be a nuclear conflict. Fortunately they backed down.

These were the days of the Cold War.

As a child and up until quite recently I lived with the knowledge that I was in the target area for a number of nuclear warheads. In the event of war we would be obliterated. I spent my life five minutes from atomic death.

All it would take is a mistake, a piece of nationalistic bravado, gamesmanship, or flawed strategy. Now we have to throw religious fanaticism into the equation.

Nuclear bombs, like biological warfare, is a nightmare. Sometimes I wonder at the tribal stupidity that creates nations, politics and wars. We need to grow out of it.

I wanted to present the sinister face of evil peering out from the midst of the explosion. I saw the nose first, fitted in the eyes and pictured the blast zone as a pair of lips. The broiling inferno became a livid brain.

Nations, religion and patriotism is all madness to me.

I stand for one global people, united, equal and with one planet to nurture. This painting means a lot to me.