Artist Robert Burden Puts Action Figures to Canvas By Randy Herkowitz May 26, 2008 - 11:35:03 PM

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Action figure collectors hoard for many different reasons.  Whether it be recreating their childhood memories, investment purposes, playing with them or perhaps they look at them as art.

Captain America

Painter Robert Burden may have been interested in action figures to help recreate the magic of his childhood but he turned such play things into vibrant paintings. Burden has received a substantial amount of exposure for his unique paintings of some of his favorite childhood action figures from his collection of large canvas paintings of play things such as: Masters of the Universe’s Battle Cat, G.I.Joe’s Serpentor or Toybiz’ Riddler . He is currently working on his largest and most ambitious pieces of work to date, Voltron!

Before I get into Burden’s inspiration, aspirations and future projects, I want to say as an action figure collector (unless you are in it strictly for monetary gain) you most likely have some interest in the arts, whether in the form of comic books, urban prints and designer toys or sculptures.  Personally, I look at action figures as more than a child’s play thing especially these days with the growth of the collector focused market.  What Burden is doing artistically accompanies my love for action figures perfectly.

Serpentor

Burden was born just outside of Toronto, Canada in 1982.  He got his BFA in painting at Queens University in Ontario then moved to San Francisco to do an MFA at the San Francisco Art Institute.  There, he was becoming disillusioned with painting and had to ask himself “what’s the point?”  He started to think back to what some of the first things he drew as a kid were and the answer was action figures and toys.  He rummaged through his old toys at his parents house and was rather disappointed when he realized that his old toys did not seem as cool as they did when he was a child. The amazement was gone.  To recapture that awe he turned to his canvas and paint brushes.

All of Burden’s paintings in this series of action figures and toys are done in a very large scale.  He states, “I think it’s integral to my concept.  These things have to be larger than life.  They have to be imposing.  I don’t want this to be merely nostalgic.  I want there to be a power to the image when a person stands right in front of it”.

Penguin

Burden does not consider himself an action figure collector.  However, since he’s started this line of work he’s been trying to track down many of his old toys that he no longer has.  Some of his favorite toys include Battle Cat from Masters of the Universe, Thirty/Thirty from Bravestarr, the Taun Taun from Star Wars and Bebop & Rocksteady from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

What are some of the deciding factors in choosing his next project?  Burden replied, “I’ll only paint toys that I either had as a kid, or toys that I really coveted as a kid.  I’m prepared to make the rare exception but I’d rather not deviate from the mantra of painting toys that I had some connection to as a boy.”

Riddler

When asked about the message he is trying to portray with his paintings, Burden states that he “definitely wants this work to tow lines between a glorification of pop culture, and a completely ironic look at hero worship, masculinity, domesticity, consumerism and commercialism."

Some of his favorite action figures he’d like to perhaps tackle next are Han Solo riding a Taun Taun from Star Wars and Snake Eyes from G.I.Joe.

Krang

Burden would like to see himself ten years from now “Still painting…somewhere!  Maybe I’ll be married to some girl who paints Barbie or My Little Pony.”

Robert Burden is currently selling three different prints in very limited numbers of 100 each.  I can tell you right now that there are at least only 99 Battle Cats left as I proudly purchased one of these beauties for myself and look forward to hanging it in my dining room for all to see.

Please check out Robert Burden’s website at www.robertburden.net.  

Battlecat

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