Artist Robert X. Burden. Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired

Robert X. Burden‘s show Toy Box opens tonight in the Shooting Gallery, and in anticipation, the ‘techie’ magazine Wired just posted this highlighting the artist. Lewis Wallace interviewed Burden, who paints superhero figurines and comic book characters that are enlarged to epic proportions. The article focuses on the sheer amount of labor that goes into making massive paintings. Working on a ladder to reach every part of the canvas, Burden paints pieces that can reach up to 11 feet high. Buried within the detail of a painting like The Holy Batman are numerous obscure references to the series that only the most seasoned comic conniosseur could decipher. Burden explains ” “Somebody asked me why the hell would I put Predator in there?” (It’s a reference to a DC Comics/Dark Horse crossover titled Batman Versus Predator.) Elsewhere in the gridlike composition, Disney’s Mad Hatter and The Wizard of Oz’s Scarecrow make appearances. Discerning eyes will spot nods to individuals, both real and imagined, who inspired Batman’s creators, Bob Kane and Bill Finger.”

Burden also explains that the essence of his work is not to solely fetishize a nostalgic toy, where collectors own and showcase specimens from their childhood. In these paintings, Burden wishes to go a step further by re-imbueing them with the wonderment and majesty they once possessed – to elevate them to the same reverential degree as they appeared to a child, “Burden stresses that his paintings, which turn tiny plastic superheroes into towering immortals akin to Greek gods, are not about his love for the toys themselves. ‘It’s about my love for my view of it when I was a kid,’ he said, recalling the now-distant excitement he felt when he received a new plaything as a child. ‘I don’t really consider myself a toy collector, because if the toy was enough, I wouldn’t make the paintings. If I was still in kind of awe of the toy, and still absolutely adored the toy, then I could just put that on my shelf and that would be enough. But it’s not anymore.’”

Come tonight to see the opening of Robert X. Burden’s solo show Toy Box at the Shooting Gallery!

Toy Box, A Solo Show by Robert Xavier Burden
Opening Reception – Saturday, May 11, 7-11 pm
On View Through June 01, 2024
@ Shooting Gallery (shootinggallerysf.com)
886 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94109

RSVP.

View more images of Burden’s work, and excerpts from the article after the jump!

Artist Robert X. Burden in his San Francisco studio. Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired

Burden, “The Holy Batman” Oil on Canvas, 95×115″ Framed

Burden, “Serben” Oil on Panel with Encased Rattlesnake Head, 16×33″

“In a painting that I’m going to spend 1,200 hours on, I don’t want it to be just a cheap joke,” he said. “This is really about the love that I have for these things, the beauty that I saw in these things as a kid.”

Burden, “Rat” Oil on Panel with Encased Rat, 16×33″

“I’m hesitant to use the word ‘easy,’ just because of the fact that making these paintings is ludicrous, you know?” Burden told Wired during a recent interview here in his warehouse studio, which is packed with paintings that can reach more than 10 feet tall. “But I also don’t think that they work on a small scale. I think if it is about sort of recapturing a sense of childhood wonderment and awe, there is this idea that maybe these things should tower over you — that if you walk into a gallery, they should be a little bit overwhelming.”

Burden “Spider” Oil on Panel with Encased Spider, 16×33″

Burden, “Scorpion” Oil on Panel with Encased Scorpion, 16×33″

“At 30, he looks forward to many more years working as an artist. While the idea of producing other types of imagery appeals to him, he said he doesn’t feel like he has time to deviate from his toy-centered work and come back to it later in life. There are more childhood memories to be mined, and Burden’s projects ‘just keep snowballing into other bigger, grander ideas. I don’t necessarily know if I feel like I have to be painting toys, but I know that it’s a body of work that I’m still, like, kind of working out of my system,’ he said. ‘Maybe I’ll do this until I’m 85, and people will definitely call me crazy.’”

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