In this gestural line etching which draws on the artist’s sketch practice, Airo uses the 1485 Sandro Botticelli panel painting Venus and Mars (or Mars and Venus) which depicts Roman gods Venus, Goddess of Love, and Mars, God of War, in an allegory of beauty and valor as the point of reference for his image. Centering the reclining figure of Mars, Airo highlights the original work’s representation of an ideal view of sensuous love by placing the figure in a modern-day Sade t-shirt.

Sade, the Nigerian-born British singer, is known as the lead singer of her eponymous band. For Airo, Sade and her music represent a similar sentiment to what Botticelli was attempting to convey in his painting: love has conquered war.