The figure (and we do mean figure) in the first frame here is well known to all, and takes his place at the center of “The 20th Century Space Opera,” a painting measuring 15 feet wide and 8 feet tall, by Robert X. Burden @rxburden. In frames 2 and 3 you see the full work, and the rest of the frames here are detail views, with Burden himself standing next to the painting in the final frame. It depicts over 150 Star Wars action figures, plus an unspecified number (a lot) of vehicles and other toys. Burden labored over it for a year and a half, logging more than 2,000 hours in the studio. . In addition to the cast of Greedos and Snaggletooths, Dengars and IG-88s, Akbars and Jar-Jars, there are a dozen or so non-Star Wars elements related to the movie—one obvious Easter egg is the portrait of Joseph Campbell (located beneath Episode IV Luke in his dingy bathrobe). Can you ID any of the others? . “The Space Opera” is currently on display at Rancho Obi-Wan @ranchoobiwan in Petaluma, CA, and next year it will be a centerpiece of Burden’s first solo exhibition at the Oceanside Museum of Art @oceansidemuseum Feb. 18–June 4, 2023.
