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Interview with Artist/Painter Robert Xavier Burden – San Diego Comic Con 2015

By Cullen Stapleton on July 25, 2015 • ( 0 )

Robert Xavier Burden is a classically trained artist who has selected the defining cultural touchstone of the Star Wars universe as his subject and focus for most of his most ambitious works.

Robert’s largest work and one we were lucky to see in person at San Diego Comic-Con is entitled 20th Century Space Opera and took 2000 hours to complete. It tells the story of the original trilogy, with a few nods to the second trilogy and the influences Lucas has specifically called out, in great detail on a canvas 15 feet in length and 8 feet in height.

From Robert’s site; “There is an obvious irony in spending hundreds 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.”

I personally picked up signed prints of Birth Of A Jedi, The Holy Batman, and 20th Century Space Opera.

Find out more about Robert and his work by following the links below.

Robert’s website with information about his wide range of works.
Robert on Twitter
Robert’s Facebook

Thanks to Robert for speaking to the Worst. Comic. Podcast. EVER! I was thrilled to see him at SDCC and we hope to have him in Kansas City soon!

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