“300 Paintings” Sam Kissajukian

December 2024
Marcus David

300 Paintings

Created and performed by
SAM KISSAJUKIAN

Vineyard Theater, Manhattan

There has always been a fascinating connection between mental illness and art. When an artist is creating under the influence of madness, we as an audience often take notice with anticipation. We are gawkers for the whatever unusual, expected or twisted visions an unsettled mind is set to reveal. There is actually a whole category for this kind of creative output called Outsider Art. There is even an art fair just for this very genre, aptly named The Outsider Art Fair and I have to admit it is one of my favorites. The artwork created by Sydney comedian Sam Kissajukian could be described as Outsider Art, but there is more to it. After a long and legit career as a standup comic, Kissajukian underwent a transformation. Setting aside his stand up comedy, he decided to become an artist and a painter. He isolated himself during the Covid years in a vast abandoned warehouse that he used as a studio/living space and went through a prolonged manic episode where he produced a huge amount of paintings and art eventually leading to a total mental breakdown.  Fortunately for us, Kissajukian’s previous life as a stand up comic affords him a sound comfort level onstage and the humor to bring the story of these paintings to life in his one-man stage production titled 300 Paintings at the Vineyard Theatre.

The show itself works much like a Ted talk, with Kissajukian on stage clicking through projected images and causally explaining his peculiar journey through mental illness and creativity, while also exploring some of the more absurd aspects of contemporary art world itself. He describes his descent with escalating hilarity in what is an entertaining and whimsical tour of a mind in the manic throes of mental disturbance, but don’t fret, it is all very positive. It is serious stuff, of course, but this a making-lemonade-when-life-gives-you-lemons kind of story. The charm Kissajukian exudes onstage allows us to laugh with him as he hysterically narrates his enterprising, yet nonsensical escapades and with gusto makes a wild and dynamic charge into art brut.

With outsider artists, there is usually two aspects to consider- a compelling story of mental illness and the visuals created by the broken mind. Perhaps the best example of this is Swiss artist Adolf Wölfli (1864-1930) – a very disturbed individual with no artistic training whatsoever, yet he created a vast amount of very complex, intricate and intense artworks after being committed for his debilitating mental condition. He is considered to be one of the most hallowed artists in the pantheon of Outsider Art. Canadian artist William Kurelek (1927-1977) also comes to mind, perhaps not neatly fitting into the Outsider Art genre because he did in fact have art training, but relevant nonetheless because he best known work, titled The Maze, was created while he was patient at Maudsley Hospital in London. It is quite a compelling visual image, details of which were used by the rock group Van Halen to illustrate their 1971 album titled Fair Warning. And of course, let us not forget Louis Wain, the celebrated English artist and famous painter of cats, who suffered a severe head injury which lead to him becoming certified insane and living his last 15 years in an insane asylum where he continued to paint, his later depictions of cats totally depart from his earlier conventional style and go into trippy psychedelic abstractions that are simply wonderful to look at.

With Kissajukian’s work we have a slightly different formula, where there is the story of mental illness, but the other piece, the art itself, in not as compelling as the process that goes into creating the art, and the great explanation of this process by Kissajukian himself onstage is what makes 300 Paintings shine. The disturbed thinking and manic execution that is illuminated in 300 Paintings is never frightening, as it provides us a positive look into how one can identify and overcome mental difficulties with humility, humor and hard work.

300 Paintings was sold-out hit at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and winner of eight fringe festival awards across Australia including four for Best Comedy, the production includes a curated exhibition of Kissajukian’s  acclaimed artwork in Vineyard Theatre’s lobby spaces, which audiences are invited to tour before and after the show.

Sam Kissajukian (Performer/Artist) is a comedian and visual artist based in Sydney, Australia. Over the past decade, he has toured globally across the USA, UK, Europe, and Australia. In 2021, during a five-month bipolar manic episode, Kissajukian created 300 large paintings, documenting his mental state daily. His work explores the intersection of art, mental health, and recovery, and since 2022, he has held six solo exhibitions at prestigious institutions including Maitland Regional Art Gallery and Brisbane Powerhouse. 300 Paintings is the culmination of Kissajukian’s personal and artistic journey and has won numerous awards, including Best Comedy at Sydney Fringe 2022 and 2023, and the Mental Health Awareness Award at Adelaide Fringe 2024.

Back by popular demand! After receiving critical acclaim and playing to sold out audiences,  The Vineyard Theatre announced that 300 Paintings will return for a special six week extended engagement from January 13 to February 23.

Vineyard Theatre
108 East 15th Street
New York City

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Vineyard Theatre is an Off-Broadway theatre company dedicated to developing and producing new plays and musicals that push the boundaries of what theatre can be and do. We seek to nurture a daring community of theatre makers and audiences, and to lift up voices that resonate far beyond our stage.