Fuego de Arabia (Flame of Arabia) 36"x60" Acrylic on canvas. © 2009. In this painting, the Western Arabic numerals are represented starting from “1” on the top right, downward towards “0,” and continuing clockwise with the 28 Arabic letters. The blooming letters spiral into the center, in the shape of a desert flower facing the wind and heat which is typical of their national landscape.
History: Arabic is spoken by more than 280 million people around the world as a first language and by 250 million more as a second language. Most native speakers live in the Middle East and North Africa. "Arab" is defined independently of religious identity, and pre-dates the rise of Islam, with historically attested Arab Christian kingdoms and Arab Jews. During the Middle Ages, Arabic was a major vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy. As a result, many European languages have borrowed numerous words from it. This painting is dedicated to Arabic mathematicians & scientists of the 9th & 10th century for their developments in Algebra (Al-Jabr="reunion" in Arabic) and the subsequent passage of the western Arabic Numeral system to Europe, and the rest of the world.