John Lister, III was born in Shreveport, LA in 1985 on July 8th. Lister spent a majority of his life between Maryland and Louisiana. He claims his first stint at creating, was at a very young age with his food, i.e. oatmeal. The child would take his toddler hands and draw abstractly in the overturned bowl remnants of oatmeal. Upon seeing this, his educator of a grandmother Ella D. Douglas, whom he affectionately named “Grants.” Grants then thought it be wise to introduce crayons and coloring books to the young child. By time he was 4 years old, he grasped and understood the female figure and male figure via Jet magazines comic books, and from watching sports, which he often would recreate as doodles. While playing and having a short football career due to surgery to lengthen his limb, Lister discovered “Grey’s Anatomy.” The book which was given to him to read and study to keep from bothering the nurses on duty at the hospital while recovering.

This can be seen in his works of art dealing with his femur and gives an explanation for the usage medical themes. It wasn’t until college however at Morgan State University where he decided to become serious about creating, learning and producing art work. Shortly after being expelled from Morgan State, Lister enrolled at Bowie State University, where he was the 1st Senior Artist to have his own solo show I’m 20 years. He graduated with a BFA in Painting in May 2011. Lister has many influences , such as Frida Kahlo, Jack Kirby, Romare Bearden, Cy Twombly, Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Pablo Picasso, Aaron Douglas, Augusta Savage, Jacob Lawrence, Aaron Douglas, Paul Goodnight, Tex Avery, Chuck Close, and Norman Lewis, and Henry Ossawa Tanner.