Elizabeth Taylor VIII
Year: 2022
Medium: Original Acrylic Painting on Canvas
Canvas size: 36″ x 36″
Price: $2,000
I’m thrilled to introduce a new artist whose dynamic and richly colored works exist at the intersection of 20th century printmaking and Americana.
Jack Graves III is an American artist who was born in 1988 in Jacksonville, Florida. His artwork ranges from abstract to representational and he works with both pen & ink and acrylic to complete his vivid artwork. Additionally, he is an art collector in his own right. Graves prides himself on a collection of 20th century printmaking including original works by Henri Matisse, Josef Albers and Sam Francis.
His early life was spent surrounded by artwork as the son of art dealer, John Graves Jr, who founded ‘The Collector’s Exchange in St. Augustine, FL in 1978, (today Graves International Art). Graves says that growing up in a gallery he found the practice of artwork to be, “a soul rewarding [and] rich expression” of himself. One that he embraced. Like many children, he began drawing at an early age, but it was an activity he never set aside. And as the years passed, he honed his skill and intuition.
By the time he graduated from Grymes Memorial School in 2003, his talents earned him an Art Departmental Award and led him to The Blue Ridge School, where he also earned a departmental award. After a year abroad studying art at the University of Newcastle, UK, Graves returned back to Virgina to study at Hampden-Sydney College, where he also received accolades for his practice.
After a sabbatical in Charlottesville, VA, Graves has recently returned to a new studio in Saint Augustine, Florida. Graves continues to refine his quality of artwork to express all the different facets of himself as a means of sharing it with others in the hopes they will find enjoyment in his canvases.
It’s this trust that guides him. A belief that “these works are serving one of their purposes of being a continual looking glass presenting new realizations, or conjuring up cherished memories, potential futures.”
Influenced by Americana and 20th century print makers such as Ed Rusha, Ellsworth Kelly and Josef Albers, Graves’s painting series include: “Abstract”, “Americana”, “Aura”, “Diamond”, “Eclecticism” (Supreme), “Rorschach”, and his “Icon” series.
Ecstasy of Saint Teresa III (Bernini)
Year: 2022
Medium: Original Acrylic Painting on Canvas
Canvas size: 48″ x 48″
Price: $2,600
Graves defines the central experience of his artwork creation as a visual poetry that interacts uniquely with each individual viewer.
Of his artwork Graves says, “I wish for the final product to echo back and forth with the viewer continuously resonating a desirable ambience.”
Diamond XXX
Year: 2021
Medium: Original Acrylic Painting on Canvas
Canvas size: 36″ x 36″
Price: $1,600
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I had the pleasure of asking Graves my most pressing questions for him. You can read the interview below to learn more about his work.
Where do you create, what is your studio set up and what does a typical day painting look like for you?
I create wherever I can find a stagnate space only I interrupt. An art studio is similar to a teenager’s bedroom. A private thinking, being space. A world of one’s own. I have never necessarily had the “ideal studio set- up” but made a space into one that works. I like lining one wall with canvases I have pre-stretched of varying sizes to consider, paint bottles strewn across the floor so to scan for the right color, brushes & tools in a neat pile, a large room is always conducive to painting, a large wall with nails in it at specific heights & spacing to hang the canvases, and a 101 CD disc changer on random.
Taylor Swift
Year: 2023
Medium: Original Acrylic Painting on Canvas
Canvas size: 50″ x 48″
Price: $3,000
One of your most popular series is your “Icon” series featuring famous individuals from pop culture. How do you decide who to paint and which of the icons has been your favorite to interpret?
The conception of the “Icon” series developed out of my incorporation of elegantly compelling, high- contrasted female faces in my “total Design” drawings. I realized play between the line work, and high contrast black and white unfolding into a recognizable image was unique unto itself as an art. Initially, the “Icon” faces were fashion models, and famous cinema stars I believed had a strong allure. The series has expanded its iconography to include fashion apparel, architecture, cars, flowers, and many other significant forms people gravitate towards. I suppose Marilyn Monroe is a favorite to interpret as her face has become a symbol in itself.
Hermia and Lysander’s Elope
Year: 2024
Medium: Original Acrylic Painting on Canvas
Canvas size: 60″ x 56″
Price: $5,500
You describe your artwork as functioning like a Rorschach test. Are there elements that you place into the works excepting some interpretations, or do you also go in ‘blind’ creating and waiting to see what comes of it from the viewers?
There are three ways to create a painting for me. One, go in with no idea, and allow abstraction to develop one. Two, have one, or two ideas in mind. Begin with those and see what ideas they develop for me afterwards. Three, have a clear concise idea that is refined, and ready in my mind, and execute it. I believe the last one can give you great work but is a skill that is really only achievable after years of the first two processes. Brevity is the soul of wit, but attainable after much hard work. My favorite is having a strong, clear feeling to express, and allowing it to build itself in front of you piece by piece like the “Eclecticism” series. To create something unknown by following an emotion is better than sitting down and trying to overthink how to make something artfully significant. Making art is a continual life of learning.
Venetian Screen, Victorian Green
Year: 2024
Medium: Original Acrylic Painting on Canvas
Canvas size: 60″ x 50″
Price: $5,500
Your Eclecticism series blends multiple styles of art into one unique work. Can you share what elements came into play with this piece; Venetian Screen, Victorian Green (2024)?
I have been interested in formulating an idea via multiple different elements at once similar to a visual poem. I’ve introduced structural order into some of these works. They present themselves like a story to follow. Similar to a movie poster, or advertisement. “Venetian Screen, Victorian Green” is a wonderful example of this. I segmented the canvas into sections of balance beginning with abstraction at the bottom. I wanted to create a “mise en scene” atmosphere between the elements. I allow the painting to lead me, and work in a subconscious manner. The gaze, or “Regard” in French of a female eyeline, the skyline of Venice in the early morning, were all developed after painting the middle section green. The “Victorian Green” is derived from the Victorian era’s fascination with “Scheele’s Green”. The border work around the model’s eyes, Doutzen Kroes, was derived in filling the space with a minimal design whose colors complimented the green. In competing with this reserved choice, I cut the painting across with a psychedelic abstract expressionist strip, easing the viewer to the chaotic lower half that I completed with calming high- contrast outlines of daisies. The piece is very alive yet subdued at the same time.
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Graves’s artwork exists in several public and private collections across the United States and internationally, including collections in both New York and Hong Kong. Particularly impressive is his “Princess Diana Icon III,” 2019 which was acquired by the Princess Diana Museum in Los Angeles, CA.
Additionally, Graves’s artwork is featured heavily online with 1st Dibs, Artsy, Graves International and now Caroline Haller Curation.
Caroline Haller Curation 