Holy Robert Xavier Burden, Batman! Seven years ago, the San Francisco–based artist took up an unusual kind of iconography. The oil paintings in Burden’s “Toy Box” series place various childhood artifacts—including toys, superheroes, and robots—front and center. With their ornate borders and backgrounds, the paintings resemble stained-glass windows or tapestries, and the religious allusions are hard to miss. But don’t tell Burden that he’s commenting on how American society fetishizes mass-market detritus. He says the images were simply undertaken to reawaken his—and by extension our—sense of childlike wonder at our old playthings. At Shooting Gallery, 886 Geary St., San Francisco, (415) 931-1500. Prices range from $900 to $30,000.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
