Contact

      Email: robertxburden@gmail.com


    Recent Solo Exhibitions

    • 2023 Oceanside Museum of Art
      Oceanside, California (Feb. 18 - June 4)

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


    • Group Exhibitions

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

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

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

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

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

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

      • 2008 Sullivan Goss Gallery "10 Under 30"
        Santa Barbara, California (Sep. 4 - Nov. 2)

      • 2007 Arts Benicia "Cream from the Top"
        Benicia, California (July - August)




      • Press & Publications

        • Off The Easel Podcast - Interview begins at the 05:30 mark (California, 2023)

        • NBC News Feature (California, 2025)

        • Fox Live Interview (California, 2025)

        • Telemundo Segment (California, 2025)

        • DKE Toys Podcast - video (California, 2023)

        • Clean Break Podcast - audio (California, 2023) - also available for free on Google, Apple, and Spotify

        • San Diego Union-Tribune Interview (California, 2023)

        • Fox Television Interview (California, 2023)

        • ArtQuest Video #1 - A Fox In The Museum (San Diego County Unified School Board, 2023)

        • Creative Brick Road Podcast (USA, 2021)

        • Archive 00 Interview (Japan, 2021)

        • Juxtapoz Interview (USA, 2016)

        • Whitehot Magazine Review (USA, 2017)

        • The Cultural Diplomat Video Interview (California, 2017)

        • ABC News Television Interview (California, 2015)

        • CBC News Interview (Canada, 2016)

        • WCTV Interview (California, 2016)

        • Wired Interview (USA, 2015)

        • Chicago Tribune Feature (Chicago, 2015)

        • Starwars.com Interview (USA, 2015)

        • Ask Me Anything/Reddit (USA, 2014)


          Part-Time Painting Faculty

          • San Francisco Art Institute, 2008-2021

          • Pixar Animation Studios, 2011

          • City College San Francisco, 2015-2019



          Awards and Panel Discussions

          • 2016 Guest Speaker (with Mel Ramos & Lizabeth Rossof), Bedford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek

          • 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

          • 2006 Murphy & Cadogan Fellowship, San Francsico Arts Commission



          Education

          • 2007 MFA (Painting) - San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California

          • 2005 BFA (Art & Art History) - Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario



            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, and the worry of the future. 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

            Large oil paintings of toys, animals, and decorative motifs.



            • B. 1982, Hamilton, Ontario
            • Lives and works in San Diego, California