Street Business: From Graffiti Artist to Entrepreneur

Abstract

This Capstone project examines and explores current cultural transitions of one modern graffiti artist. For many graffiti and street artists, the transition from the streets to the gallery is nothing new, but for an artist like Jason Eatherly, it has been a way to turn a single image into a career. Eatherly’s transition, over the past six years, from graffiti and street artist to fine artist and entrepreneur raises questions of identity, recontextualization, authenticity, and commoditization. Creating a dialogue around these themes could illuminate alternate paths for other street artists looking to make a career out of their chosen medium of self-expression. Through this project, I have identified different audiences, context, and my positionality on this topic through a Cultural Sustainability lens.