Contact

      Email: robertxburden@gmail.com


    Recent Press

    • Juxtapoz Interview
    • Whitehot Magazine Review
    • Modern Art Blitz Interview with Greg Escalante
    • The Cultural Diplomat Interview
    • ABC News Television Interview
    • CBC News Interview
    • WCTV Television Interview
    • Wired Interview
    • Chicago Tribune Interview
    • Starwars.com Interview
    • Ask Me Anything/Reddit


    Academic Artist Statement

    In 2006 I began a series of large-scale oil paintings depicting the small action figures that I played with as a boy. Initially these figures were set against fabric, wallpaper, and rug patterns from my childhood home. Over the years the decorative motifs have become more complex and derived from historical references, often incorporating toys from various generations, but the motivation behind the work remains the same. I am inspired by the amorphous line that is drawn between imagination and reality, childhood wonder and adult practicality, and the ineffability of what can turn a piece of plastic into an almost talismanic object. There is an obvious irony in spending thousands of hours to create a single painting that glorifies a cheap, mass-produced toy. And while that irony could reflect issues of commodity fetishism, consumer addiction, Peter Pan Syndrome or even shallow idolatry, I want these paintings to represent something positive in my life. Although it was sheltered and naive, there was a freedom in my childhood. It was free from the politics of race and sex and religion. It was free from the weight of history. It was free from rhetoric and paranoia, shame and regret, cynicism and despair. There is nothing profound about commenting on the minor tragedy of losing one's innocence, or the struggle to maintain one's idealism. I just want to renew my faded sense of awe.

    Reductive Artist Statement

    Toys and patterns...and sometimes animals.

      Recent & Upcoming Exhibitions

      • 2020 Solo Show:
        Heron Arts
        San Francisco, California (Feb. 29 - April 29)

      • 2019 Group Show:
        Heron Arts
        San Francisco, California (Dec. 14 - Jan. 14)

      • 2019 Group Show:
        Carnegie Arts Center
        Turlock, California (Sep. 14 - Jan. 12)

      • 2018 Group Show:
        Lancaster Museum of Art
        Lancaster, California (Oct. 20 - Dec. 30)

      • 2017 Group Show:
        Palo Alto Art Center
        Palo Alto, California (Sep. 15 - Dec. 29)

      • 2017 Solo Show:
        Gregorio Escalante Gallery
        Los Angeles, California (Jan. 7 - Feb. 5)

      • 2016 Group Show:
        Huntsville Museum of Art
        Huntsville, Alabama (Sep. 10 - Dec. 11)

      • 2016 Booth:
        San Diego Comic-Con
        San Diego, California (July 21 - July 24)

      • 2016 Group Show:
        California Center For The Arts, Escondido
        Escondido, California (June 14 - Aug. 14)

      • 2016 Group Show:
        Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center for the Arts
        Walnut Creek, California (Jan. 17 - March 20)


        • Part-Time Faculty

        • San Francisco Art Institute, 2008-2020
        • Pixar Animation Studios, 2011
        • City College San Francisco, 2015-2019

        Awards and Panel Discussions

        • 2006 Murphy & Cadogan Fellowship, San Francsico Arts Commission
        • 2007 Irene Pijoan Memorial Painting Award, San Francisco Art Institute
        • 2007 'Cream From The Top' Panel Discussion, Moderated by Glen Helfand and Kenneth Baker, Arts Benicia

        Education

        • 2007 MFA (Painting) - San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California
        • 2005 BFA (Art & Art History) - Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario