I was sorting through pictures on my computer looking for one for my desktop background. I came across one of my son’s, Peter, numerous digit art pieces. It was called “carbon” and was one of the few pieces of art, if not the only one, where he had put the name on the piece of art. What was his fascination with carbon? I decided to look up “carbon” in Wikipedia.
Here is some of what I found about the element carbon. “Carbon is one of the few elements known since antiquity.” Two forms,(allotropes),of carbon are diamonds, hardest naturally occurring substance and graphite, one of the softest known substances. “Carbon forms more compounds than any other element…. This abundance, together with the unique diversity of organic compounds and their unusual polymer-forming ability at the temperatures commonly encountered on Earth, make this element the chemical basis of all known life.”
I could go on and on describing carbon but Peter, despite his lack of interest in studying math and science, had an innate understanding of the significance of this element. Compost which I have written a lot about on his web site is made from carbon materials, (brown), paper, cardboard, leaves, wood chips and from nitrogen, used coffee grounds, vegetable waste and other materials, (green). It is the material from which worms create . In the human body carbon “is the second most abundant element by mass (about 18.5%) after oxygen.”
Peter looked on life as a “paradox” and this element, the hardest and one of the softest, fits this mode. Peter looked at the connections between pieces of life and carbon is certainly one of them. His digital art is abstract impressions and carbon, which is at the center of all life on earth, deserves recognition in art.
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