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300 Paintings

Sam Kissajukian’s 300 Paintings: Art, Comedy and Self-Discovery

Sam Kissajukian’s 300 Paintings began with 300 large works made in 2021 and became a performance combining visual art, comedy and personal reflection.

By ThatPainter Team 3 min read

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Sam Kissajukian’s 300 Paintings grew out of a period when the Sydney-based comedian stopped performing and made 300 large works. He later shaped that experience into a stage piece combining comedy, visual art and personal storytelling. The paintings are part of his account of self-discovery—not evidence that mental illness is necessary for creativity.

What is Sam Kissajukian’s 300 Paintings about?

Kissajukian is a comedian and visual artist whose official biography says he made 300 large paintings during a six-month manic episode in 2021. After recovery, diagnosis and treatment, he returned to performing in 2022 and developed the experience into 300 Paintings. The American Repertory Theater describes a more detailed sequence: an episode beginning in June 2021, then a five-month depressive episode, diagnosis in May 2022 and a return to performance in September. The accounts divide and describe the timeline differently, so the precise chronology is best attributed to each source rather than treated as a single settled account. Sam Kissajukian’s biography; American Repertory Theater biography.

The title refers to the body of work that emerged from that period, but the performance is not simply a gallery exhibition or a conventional stand-up set. It brings together the paintings, comedy and Kissajukian’s personal reflections on his experience. A 2023 review described a show that combined stand-up with an onstage visual montage and art arranged chronologically. ArtsHub’s 2023 review.

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How did he make the paintings?

In an interview with the American Repertory Theater, Kissajukian explained that painting offered a way to work outside language after he quit stand-up:

“After I quit stand-up comedy, I was tired of words. I felt drawn to a visual medium. Working large was physical and gestural, pulling me out of my head. Painting was the cheapest way in, so I used six-by-three-foot pieces of cardboard and brown packing paper.”

His account connects the scale and physicality of the work with how he experienced making it. The surfaces he describes were large, inexpensive supports—not evidence of a prescribed technique or a particular commercial paint kit. American Repertory Theater interview.

He has also described verbal and visual forms as suited to different ideas: combining them gave him a way to communicate mental states associated with bipolar disorder. That is his reflection on his own process, not a general clinical claim about mental illness or art-making.

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How does 300 Paintings combine comedy and art?

The performance uses comedy alongside images and personal storytelling rather than asking the paintings to stand alone as illustrations. The theater framing has been described as a fusion of comedy and visual art exploring the bipolar mind. In some presentations, the art was also available as an exhibition around the show: the Vineyard Theatre listing, for example, described a curated exhibition audiences could tour before or after the performance. Theatre Development Fund’s listing.

Humor also appears in the artist’s stories about the work. In a Stanley Street Gallery exhibition context, Kissajukian recounted labeling a painting “Where’s Wally” and a visitor spending four hours searching it. The anecdote gives a glimpse of the playful side of the art and its reception, without making it a guide to interpreting every painting. Stanley Street Gallery exhibition page.

Why the story is personal, not a formula for creativity

Kissajukian’s paintings and performance offer one artist’s account of making work during a period of mental illness and later turning that experience into performance. His story can prompt questions about identity, expression and the different things words and images can convey. It should not be generalized into a claim that bipolar disorder causes creativity, or that illness is a prerequisite for meaningful art.

The American Repertory Theater’s biography reports that 300 Paintings toured festivals, theaters and arts institutions in Australia and the UK, and that it had an 80-night Vineyard Theatre run in New York in 2024, followed by a 2025 return engagement. Those are historical presentations, not a statement of current availability. The theater’s 2025 production page listed an October 1–25, 2025 engagement at Farkas Hall; those dates have passed. Check the artist or venue’s current listing for any future performances. American Repertory Theater biography; American Repertory Theater production page.

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