Penned Auras

Jack Graves III is an American artist, born in 1988 in Jacksonville, Florida. He grew up surrounded by inspiration, having an art dealer as a father — John Graves Jr., who founded The Collector's Exchange in St. Augustine, FL in 1978 (today Graves International Art).

At the age of 5, Graves’s family moved away from urban Jacksonville, Florida, to rural Somerset, Virginia. There, he grew up in the country, attending and graduating from Grymes Memorial School in 2003 winning the Art Departmental award. He then attended the Blue Ridge School for four years, an all-male boarding school founded more than 100 years ago, also winning the Art Departmental award there out of the entire student body in 2007. Upon high school graduation, Graves attended school abroad for a year, studying art at the University of Newcastle, UK, and then back to the United States to finish at Hampden-Sydney College, VA. He would be recognized for his art at both of these colleges. A large photograph portrait of Graves working in the college's art studio while an art student hangs today within the ground floor of the famous Bortz Library at Hampden-Sydney College.

After college, Graves took his talents into the art world, working in Charlottesville, VA. He mainly works in acrylic paints, but also some pen and ink works on paper. He is predominantly represented by the gallery operated by his father John Graves and brother Alex Graves, Graves International Art in St. Augustine, FL, although he regularly participates in shows and exhibitions among other galleries along the East Coast of the United States.

Graves’s work is featured on the two most exclusive online art marketplaces, 1stDibs and Artsy. Over the course of 10 years, Graves has created more than a handful of painting series: “Abstract,” “Americana,” “Aura,” “Diamond,” “Eclecticism” (Supreme), “Rorschach,” and most notably, his very popular “Icon” series. Since 2011, Graves’s work has been placed in private collections around the world from New York to Hong Kong. He has placed work in private collections in over 35 states in the United States and almost 20 different countries worldwide. Notable acquisitions include Princess Diana Icon III (2019), which was placed into the Princess Diana Museum, Los Angeles, CA, and The Venus of Alexandria Icon (Yves Klein) (2019), which was placed into a private collection within the royal family of Qatar.

Today, Graves lives and works in Jacksonville, FL.

Find original Jack Graves III paintings and other art on 1stDibs.

Painting is an art form that has spanned innumerable cultures, with artists using the medium to tell stories, explore and communicate ideas and express themselves. To bring abstract, landscape and still-life paintings into your home is to celebrate and share in the long tradition of this discipline.

When we look at paintings, particularly those that originated in the past, we learn about history, other cultures and countries of the world. Like every other work of art, paintings — whether they are contemporary creations or works that were made during the 19th century — can often help us clearly see and understand the world around us in a meaningful and interesting way.

Cave walls were the canvases for what were arguably the world’s first landscape paintings, which depict natural scenery through art. Portrait paintings and drawings, which, along with sculpture, were how someone’s appearance was recorded prior to the advent of photography, are at least as old as Ancient Egypt. In the Netherlands, landscapes were a major theme for painters as early as the 1500s. Later, artists in Greece, Rome and elsewhere created vast wall paintings to decorate stately homes, churches and tombs. Today, creating a wall of art is a wonderful way to enhance your space, showcase beautiful pieces and tie an interior design together.

No matter your preference, whether you favor Post-Impressionist paintings, animal paintings, Surrealism, Pop art or another movement or specific period, arranging art on a blank wall allows you to evoke emotions in a room while also showing off your tastes and interests. A symmetrical wall arrangement may comprise a grid of four to six pieces or, for an odd number of works, a horizontal row. Asymmetrical arrangements, which may be small clusters of art or large, salon-style gallery walls, have a more collected and eclectic feel. Download the 1stDibs app, which includes a handy “View on Wall” feature that allows you to see how a particular artwork will look on a particular wall, and read about how to arrange wall art. And if you’re searching for the perfect palette for your interior design project, what better place to turn than to the art world’s masters of color?

On 1stDibs, you’ll find an expansive collection of paintings and other fine art for your home or office. Browse abstract paintings, portrait paintings, paintings by popular artists and more today.