common denominator

Title: Lowest Common Denominator
Post: "Can you all help me brainstorm about the basic links which ALL humans share?"

This post on an artists working group blog got me thinking about my older primordial paintings. (Plus, I am currently staring at three large blank canvas and wrestling with imagery. It's been a while since I worked in this scale.)

I started with the same "what is our common denominator" question in the primordial series. It quickly went deeper to what is the common denominator between all people and plants...then further, is there one common denominator between animals, plants, minerals?

From a scientific standpoint we're all just a bunch of carbon molecules arranged in different ways. And remarkably, the molecular structure for hemoglobin, human blood, is similar to the the structure of chlorophyll. (scroll down on that last link) In some areas of my last primordial painting (#6) you can see the compounds drawn out. (Detail above) Only a scientist or 8th grader would recognize them.

And lastly, to give reason for this blather of a post, I leave you/me/us with this reminder to eat our veggies.

"Chlorophyll is often described as the ‘blood of plants’ and chlorophyll-rich foods have been linked with increasing hemoglobin content. Tributes to the late Prof. Willstatter for elucidating chlorophyll’s chemical structure, and conclusively showing its close resemblance to human blood." Full article

Who wants a V8?