Sam Cranstoun combines multi-method research with interdisciplinarity to create work that examines systems of representation and the process of narrative construction. Concentrating on historic events and characters and with consideration to the complex and evolving role of the artist, Cranstoun works across painting, drawing, collage, sculpture and video, meticulously exploring image culture and its bearing on our worldview. In doing so, the artist reveals how representations can influence, reinforce, challenge and shift our ideas and, hence, how we respond to the world around us.

Cranstoun has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from Queensland University of Technology (QUT). His work 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 in the Archibald Prize, the Churchie Prize, the National Works on Paper Award, and selected exhibitions include GoMAQ, 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, Cranstoun presented a ten-year survey of his work at the University of Sunshine Coast Art Gallery. He lectures in painting at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane.