Check out this marvellously detailed piece by artist Robert Burden and see just how many familiar faces you spot.
It took 2000 hours of studio time spread out over 18 months. It depicts 166 figures from the Star Wars universe. There is a ‘Light Side’ / ‘Dark Side’ composition to the painting. Good guys are on the left, bad guys are on the right (with a few exceptions here and there). Even the figures are lit from left to right. The painting also depicts some of the cultural influences that helped to shape the story and aesthetic of Star Wars – Gandalf (the inspiration for Obi Wan Kenobi), Flash Gordon, Samurai Kabuto (Vader’s helmet), a toy Nazi soldier (aesthetic of the Empire), Joseph Campbell, Yul Brynner from the Magnificent Seven (representing both the Kurosawa films and classic westerns that helped to shape Star Wars), Gort from ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’ (inspiring the character names of Klaatu, Barada and Nikto from Jabba’s Palace). Behind Boba Fett, in the center of the painting, is a background that very tenuously references the Mona Lisa, which is a painting that some art historians consider to be the first ‘fantasy’ painting ever made due to the fact that it is one of the first recorded portraits of a sitter in front of an imaginary landscape. Far off in the distance of the landscape is a tiny little cityscape that loosely resembles San Francisco, along with the famous cranes of Oakland (said to have possibly influenced the aesthetic of the AT-AT vehicle).
The painting will be publicly unveiled for the first time as part of the Rancho Obi Wan exhibit at the Star Wars Celebration event happening in Anaheim in April. I hope you can come see the painting in person.
May the Force be with you!
Robert