BRISBANE ARTIST SAM CRANSTOUN AWARDED THE ARTBANK + QPAC COMMISSION 2016 

Artbank and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) have announced Brisbane artist Sam Cranstoun as the recipient of the Artbank + QPAC Commission 2016.

This exciting commission provides the opportunity for early to mid-career Queensland based artists to realise the creation of a new, large scale work on paper. Artists and artist collectives were invited to submit proposals to create a two dimensional artwork in photomedia, drawing, printmedia, collage or painting on paper.

As the recipient of the commission, Sam Cranstoun receives $6,000 to produce his winning artwork, which will be on display in the Russell Street Wine Bar of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre Playhouse for a period of twelve months from mid 2016 to mid 2017. It will then be acquired for the prestigious Artbank collection, and will be made available for lease following its return from QPAC in 2017.

Artist Sam Cranstoun’s multidisciplinary practice draws upon a variety of tangentially connected images and objects in a playful examination of shifting cultural values. Cranstoun graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). He has held solo exhibitions locally, including Fox River Rising (2013), and Memphis Tn (2014) at the Milani Gallery. Cranstoun’s work has been presented in group exhibitions such as GoMA Q (2015), Subtropic Complex at the Institute of Modern Art (2014) and Tokyo Downtown Cool Media Festival, Tokyo (2010). He has twice been selected as a finalist for the Archibald Prize and twice been awarded Arts Council of Australia grants.

Says Tony Stephens, Artbank’s Director: “This commission marks the fourth year of our partnership with QPAC, a collaboration developed to promote and support contemporary Queensland artists through commission, acquisition and public display. In the past, we have commissioned exceptional works from artists such as photomedia artist Kate Bernauer (2013), photographer Martin Smith (2014) and photographic artist and costume maker Gerwyn Davies (2015).

“We are delighted to be awarding this year’s commission to Sam Cranstoun’s and look forward to seeing his ideas for an ambitious work on paper come to life. Sam is one of the rising stars of the Brisbane arts scene and his provocative exploration of historical imagery and events should create an exceptional work for the Artbank + QPAC Commission.”

QPAC Associate Director Arts Programming Kirsten Siddle added: “Our ongoing relationship with Artbank has seen QPAC promote Queensland artists’ work through leasing a newly commissioned work from Artbank, alongside additional pieces from their collection, for public display in QPAC’s Russell St Wine Bar. This partnership demonstrates QPAC’s commitment to support and promote artists, not just performers on stage, but within the broader artistic community.”

Says Sam Cranstoun: “I am really excited to have been awarded the 2016 Artbank + QPAC Commission. I have for a long time wanted to create a work on paper that draws on my personal archive of historically based imagery - images that I have collected in developing other projects but ultimately not been able to use - and this commission gives me the opportunity to explore and develop these incongruous and seemingly unrelated images for a series of watercolours. It’s an honour to be showing at QPAC and for the work to be acquired for the Artbank Collection.”

Image: Sam Cranstoun, Collage Fragments I - 2016, Watercolour on paper, courtesy of the artist.