Proyecto Niágara I (Jota Be y Erre O), 1993

The Colombian-born Venezuelan artist Roberto Obregón created a universe of symbols within his work centred on the motif of the rose. The Niagara series occupies a prominent place among such works, comprising a sequence of rectangular compositions featuring symbols with meanings either universal, arcane or esoteric, and yet often indicating highly personal, autobiographical content. The title of the series pays homage to the 1953 movie starring Marilyn Monroe, while each panel sets up a dialogue between two characters, for example Marcel Duchamp. In this work, the silhouettes and the initials of Jorge Luis Borges and the artist himself are included. The symbols correspond to their horoscopes and the numbers are the result of the combination of their birth dates and the letters of their names according to numerology patterns. Similarly, the work features the rose petals of the species that flourishes in the months when the two figures were born.