Sam Cranstoun’s multidisciplinary practice combines various forms of research with a wide array of media to create work that investigates different systems of representation. His work regularly focuses on historical figures and events as a way of exploring how history is shaped, how it functions and how we as spectators rely on different visual systems as a way of understanding the past.
These investigations address the importance of the role assumed by the artist in creating work, as well as the importance of popular culture, mass media, art, architecture and design in forming a collective understanding of our environment and surroundings. His practice traverses a variety of mediums, including collage, sculpture, painting, drawing, watercolour, sculpture and video, focusing on historical figures, events and images as a way of exploring how history and current affairs are shaped and how we respond.
Cranstoun has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from Queensland University of Technology (QUT). His works is held in private and public collections including University of Queensland Art Museum, Queensland University of Technology Art Museum and the Museum of Brisbane. Cranstoun has been a finalist for the Archibald Prize, the Churchie Prize, the National Works on Paper Award, and selected exhibitions include GoMA Q, 2015 (Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane), Light Play, 2015 (UQ Art Museum, Brisbane) and Guarding the Home Front, 2015 (Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Liverpool NSW), as well as Close Enough – Young Queensland Artists (Caloundra Regional Gallery) and I Can See Russia From Here (TCB, Melbourne), both 2017. Cranstoun was the recipient of the 2016 Art Bank QPAC Commission.
In 2018 Cranstoun presented a solo show at the Museum of Brisbane, created a large-scale installation for The National in 2019, held at Carriageworks, and in 2020 presented a solo exhibition at the UQ Art Museum. In 2023 a mid-career survey of their works was presented at the University of the Sunshine Coast Art Gallery.
