300 Paintings

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Sam Kissajukian’s 300 Paintings is a stand-up comedy show, an art show, an autobiography and a TED talk all rolled up into one. Australian-born Kissajukian proves to be a charmingly modest presence as he relates the events of six months in his life in 2021. We follow the story of his obsessive need to put his ideas on canvas which led to a whole series of other artistic projects, some clever and others off the wall.

Deciding to quit stand-up comedy after ten years, Kissajukian decides to take up painting. As the pandemic gears up, he moves into an abandoned cake factory on the outskirts of Sydney, his home town. His large, windowless room, formerly a bakery, is perfect for a studio with its high blank walls. Little knowing that he is bipolar and undergoing a manic episode which usually last two weeks but in his case lasted six months, he begins obsessively filling in canvases. Untaught, he starts with “modernist” self-portraits which look nothing like him and moves on to other artistic periods and styles creating his own “Blue Period” before reinventing Cubism. Assuming that Picasso was the major artist of the 20^th century, he decides to go in the other direction and begins signing his painting “Pisscasso.”

As he gets deeper into his manic and solitary episode, he often paints 24 hours staright. Eventually, he decides to experiment with miniatures and then placing them in dioramas. He moves on to painted t-shirts to be sold. He finds a hedge-fund investor who is interested in his idea of a virtual museum but who balks when Kissajukian wants to use illustrated coins from his own bank to gain admission. After six months and 300 paintings later, he sinks into a debilitating depression and decides to seek medical help. He discovers that he has always been bipolar which explains his manic-depressive episodes throughout his life. Screening for us almost all of the varied 300 paintings, it also becomes obvious that they reveal his mental states. He finds that Van Gogh who was also bipolar had five kinds of mental illnesses.

Not only are the paintings massive but they also cover all sorts of modern periods of art without Kissajukian having known their work (abstract work by Picasso, Matisse, Joan Miró, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Basquiat, etc.) After the show the audience is invited to experience his recent art work on display in four galleries in the theater while he remains available to answer questions. Not only are the paintings a kind of therapy for him, he also titles them with witty names and explanations, often having little to do with actual images.

Kissajukian’s experience as a stand-up comic holds him in good stead for this unscripted one man show which varies from performance to performance. His winning and amiable personality is quite fetching and seductive. Just as one begins to fear for his state of mind, we discover that he now has had multiple art shows all over the world of the 300 paintings which have led to further commissions. Aside from now coping with his manic-depression, he seems to have survived it and learned how to deal with it. It is not only an inspiring story but a colorful and imaginative show which has led to his traveling to the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival as well as winning eight Fringe Festival Awards in Australia including the Sydney Fringe Festival Award for Best Comedy and Directors Choice Award.

Sam Kissajukian: 300 Paintings (Return engagement: January 13 – February 23, 2025)

The Vineyard Theatre in association with Sally Horchow and Matt Ross

Vineyard Theatre, 108 E. 15th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, http://www.vineyardtheatre.org

Running time: varies nightly from 80 – 90 minutes plus four room art show after performance