The Land of the Number Zero

About the Book

LOOK WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT THE LAND OF THE NUMBER ZERO!

“MCD has become a master of paint which flows into form . . . The art is technically proficient and an example that representational art can convey feeling and emotion far more than place and time . . . It is beautifully nonessential and detached, immersed in myth . . . resolved into an art of real force and power . . . The intensity of MCD’s application of paint, the refusal to compromise individual vision are all traits of serious creativity.”
     -The Straight Creek Journal, Carl Fowler

“Thank you for the samples of your books. Both Eric Cornell and myself got an opportunity to take a look at them and found them quite interesting.”
     -Carl E. Wieman, Professor of Physics, University of Colorado, Nobel Laureate in Physics

“My daughter is very interested in your art, my wife and I had to come and visit and see it ourselves. The Land of The Number Zero books are especially interesting.”

     -Harry Bertoia, sculptor and designer, creator of the chapel at M.I.T.

“Years in the making, MCD has developed a kaleidoscope of paintings in The Land of The Number Zero books that are both medieval and modern at the same time. Very dream-like, extremely sensuous, the work is almost a cross between Marc Chagall and Richard Lindner . . . The work really is a great menu of visual delights that are well worth the time to linger over, savoring the delightful blends of colors and forms.”
     -The Straight Creek Journal

“The paintings of MCD offer a feast of free association. Some recall German expressionism or Brechtian theater, others suggest the influence of primitive art and surrealist dreams. Many of the acrylics unwind in a spiral from the center of the canvas, like reveries from a genie’s lamp. Using layered, textured paint, and some metallic colors, MCD draws from a palette of deep greens, rust and browns to create a netherworld dotted with haunting faces and shadows. They are mysterious and powerful works.”
     -Now Magazine, The Denver Post THE LAND OF THE NUMBER ZERO is an individual artist’s investigation into the mathematical question,


“What is zero?” There is plus one, therefore there can be a minus one. But, “What is zero?” Kierkegaard wrote that zero is something over which we make a leap of faith. In classical math if you indefinitely reduce the number one by fractions you are on your way to infinity, but not to zero. Certain Eastern philosophies, such as Lao tsu, have been applied to classical math where rational sets of illogical premises mimic zero, which Joseph Campbell found close to a psychological state of catatonia and popular science followed behind, but nothing convincing was translatable to pure math. Four years before MCD began this journey, artists and scientists met in Germany to form an organization called the Zero Program to discuss this and other mathematical questions. It looked for a while as if biology may have signs about zero in it, as studies were done of viruses much the same way physics was theorizing about the black holes in space. But it has not been seen. Picasso said that art is a sign also, read it. So in this spirit of discovery, scientific theory and deeply personal artistic vision, MCD has produced a land for the viewer to walk through that powerfully unravels this mathematical enigma using the visual world of art and the poetic world of words. For the artist the walk led to a conversion to Christianity, however this artistic journey is open for anyone interested in a uniquely creative, investigative, mysterious experience inspired by math. MCD is an artist who has lived in Denver, Colorado for over sixty years with the exception of the years studying art in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico at the Instituto Allende, University of Guanajuato under once W

About the Author

Biography M.C.D. is an artist who has lived sixty years in Denver, Colorado, except for a year studying artin San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. Coursework in English at the University of Denver and working with brain damaged children prepared M.C.D.to recognize the therapeutic value of her mother’s world of imagination. But nothing prepared M.C.D. for the brilliance of that world and it’s suggestion that we could communicate with God’s creation all around us.