THE HANGOVER REPORT – In 300 PAINTINGS, Sam Kissajukian intersects mental health and the arts in a wildly imaginative act of introspection

Sam Kissajukian in “300 Paintings” (photo by Tal Goldhamer).

Last night, Australian comedian Sam Kissajukian’s 300 Paintings opened Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre. The autobiographical solo show arrives in New York after having proved to be a hit at various global theater festivals, namely this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. Using a hybrid of comedy, theater, and visual art to reflect upon his mental health history — namely, an extended manic bipolar episode which produced a head-spinning collection of more than 300 diverse paintings (hence, the show’s title) — Kissajukian has concocted a deeply personal narrative that’s at once unpredictable and utterly engrossing.

By way of background, Kissaiukian decided in 2021 to take a hiatus from the world of stand-up comedy. At the time in his mid-30s, he felt disillusioned by the trajectory of his career, deciding instead to make the drastic shift to become a serious painter without any sort of formal training (!). As if shot from a canon, he managed to create hundreds of pieces in an awesome burst of creativity within the relatively short span of five months. What starts off as a pedestrian “show-and-tell” presentation of these paintings quickly turns out into an existential deep dive into a restless and endlessly creative mind sparked — thrillingly if unsustainably — by his mania. More theatrical monologue than your typical standup act, 300 Paintings is both vivid and whimsical, introducing an intriguing new voice to the growing sphere of notable comic storytellers (e.g., Hannah Gadsby, Mike Birbiglia, Alex Edelman, just to name a few).

Suffice to say, Kissaiukian is a delight and a complete original. He starts off as an unassuming guide, clicking through his projected slide show of paintings as if chronicling an amusing parody of an episode of his life. But as it turns out, many of his works are actually quite good, and he furthermore uses them to beguilingly mine the depths of the human mind. Kissajukian is also quite the astute contrarian, which brings tension and great wit to his intoxicatingly florid account — a wildly imaginative act of introspection that’s as intellectually stimulating as it is flat out funny.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

300 PAINTINGS
Off-Broadway, Play
Vineyard Theatre
1 hour, 5 minutes (without an intermission)
Through December 15

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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