300 Paintings Summerhall (Venue 26), until 26 August ★ ★★★ Sam Kissajukian begins by telling us how three years ago he gave up the stand-up comedy game on a whim and decided to try to make it as an artist instead. Why not? After all, surely very few experiments could have funnier results than a mid-thirties career change from one thing you’re unlikely to become spectacularly successful to another with the same prospects – and one which you’re also entirely untrained in. His parents nearly had a meltdown, of course, but he thought it seemed like a great idea and pressed on.
The Sydney-based Kissajukian gets an essential spoiler very early in the show, which is that he eventually quit hunting for fame in the art world and returned to his first love. That’s apparent from the opening moments of his solo monologue, which has all the hallmarks of a stand-up set and some good punchlines to match. He tells us his story, about how he essentially “completed modern art” in the first month, composing abstract and ill-received portraits of friends and colleagues, experiencing his own ‘blue period’, and then getting his ‘final’ masterpiece out of the way early (added topicality points for the Last Supper reference).
On he goes, redoing his own work in miniature, talking hedge funds into giving him money and turning it down because it’s not enough, building a business website which is a piece of baffling conceptual art in its own right, and rounding 2021 out ma.