BIOGRAPHY
Sam Kissajukian
A.R.T.: Debut. Sam Kissajukian, who lives in Sydney, had been working professionally as a stand-up comedian for twelve years until he became disillusioned by his career and quit. In June 2021, in the seclusion of an old cake factory, Sam experienced a six-month manic episode followed by a debilitating five-month depressive episode. In May 2022, he was diagnosed with Bipolar. Since seeking treatment, Sam’s life was transformed by his newfound stability. After a yearlong hiatus, Sam began performing again in September 2022. He created 300 Paintings to tell his story, fusing comedy and visual art to explore the Bipolar mind.
Intending to perform the show only once, 300 Paintings won a major festival award, which sparked invitations to perform the show at festivals, theaters, and arts institutions in Australia and the UK, where it won a nine more high-profile awards. This run of shows continued in 2024 at New York’s Vineyard Theatre for eighty nights where it was nominated for four theater awards for Best Solo performance.
Sam is also an accomplished visual artist, with a full-time painting practice producing bold exhibitions with a comedic bent that explore the ineffable mental states of Bipolar. Over the last four years he’s held solo exhibitions at prestigious galleries, arts institutions, and theaters across all five major Australian cities, Edinburgh, and New York. In 2024 he won Best Solo Exhibition at the Adelaide Fringe.