What exactly is art? Does it arise from within oneself, or is it something that is created as a result of one's efforts?

Dear Diary,

The last time I had a diary was in 1993, when I was pregnant with my son. I was 25 years old, living in the beautiful Pacific Palisades, a dreamy neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. Once my son was born, life changed so dramatically in a good way but also speedily and busily. I stopped writing until 2014, when I wrote the 15 memorable years of my entrepreneurial journey.??

?A few years back, I reconnected with a dear friend. We have been taking a few courses together at the University. He was always intellectual; at 40, he took a sabbatical decision to leave the city & and his professional career and moved to the seaside, and from a successful businessman, he turned out to be a great poet. During one of our conversations, he told me that he was keeping diaries to remember. Remember the good and the bad, the people, the events, and how he felt. He said that we tend to forget in time, and when we fail to remember, we become vulnerable repeatedly when faced with similar situations. He was right in his point of view. But I am skeptical about how honest we are to ourselves when talking or writing down our feelings. I prefer to take photos & videos of all the places I have been to, the situations, the people, and myself. Thanks to social media apps, I can keep some of them open to the public and add captions according to my mood. My self-portraits are encrypted, meaning that they are only valid to me. And that helps to witness my self-growth & evolvement over the years. After all, you know what they say - eyes don't lie. You have to learn how to read them.??

From Diary to Art

[left] Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dos Cabezas, 1982. Artwork ? Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York [right] Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait with Basquiat, October 4, 1982. Artwork: ? 2021 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

I am a big fan of Jean Michel Basquiat & his art. And his death at such a young age always breaks my heart. I had a chance to visit Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure exhibit in NYC this spring. It was amazing. Anyone who knows a little about Basquiat knows how close he was to Andy Warhol. And when I watched the new documentary tv series named Andy Warhol Diaries - on Netflix, I felt like writing about it & share it with you.

The 80s was the Golden era of American artists. NYC. The visual art movement. Pop art. Neo-expressionism movement. Graffiti. Street Art. And all of these idols, artists of my early younghood.?

The Andy Warhol Diaries is the dictated memoir of the American artist Andy Warhol, posthumously published. It was edited by his frequent collaborator and long-time friend, Pat Hackett. Warner Books first published it in 1989 with an introduction by Hackett.

The 807-page book begins on November 24, 1976, and ends eleven years later on February 17, 1987, just five days before his death. It is a condensed version by Hackett of Warhol's more than 20,000-page Diary.

Beginning in the fall of 1976, Warhol and Hackett talked by phone each morning around 9:00 a.m., and he spoke to her about the previous day's events. Weekend entries were done the following Monday. Hackett transcribed his monologue onto a legal pad. Later in the morning, she would use a typewriter to create diary pages.

I am repeatedly inspired by these artists' creativity and search for new ways of expressionism of the era. I am touched by all the sentimental challenges they faced in a society that had difficulties accepting them as they were. The criticism they received for their art along their journey, the friendship, the fame, AIDS, isolation,?the emotional support and care for each other, and all the delusions of a disco-era is a part of the life journey of these highly talented artists. ?

Good business is the best art.

Throughout his career as an artist, filmmaker, director of The Factory, band manager, magazine publisher, and television entrepreneur, Andy Warhol intentionally blurred the line between art and commerce, calling into question the very values of art by claiming, "Good business is the best art." The documentary also examines Warhol's complex and multifaceted relationship with commerce in his work and life—from his successful commercial artist career to his reign as a significant cultural trendsetter in the eighties.

In the documentary, Steve Jobs teaches Warhol to paint on Macintosh in one scene. That was iconic, symbolizing the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. A period that I am more familiar with for sure.?On that October night in 1984, when Jobs first showed Warhol how to use the computer's paint program, the artist felt like a fish out of water. "I felt so old and out of it with this young whiz guy who'd helped invent it," he wrote.

As an ever-lasting wonderer who never gets tired of questioning life, love, and art as much as I ask and write about technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship, I look forward to finding answers to What is art? Does it come out of you? Or is it a product??

?Thank you, Andy & Jean-Michel, for being who you are and inspiring me.?

?Thank you, dear readers. I hope my writing inspires you for your journey as much as I am inspired by writing for you on my journey.

All the best,

Esra Talu

GoGlobal Founder & CEO

August 9, 2022, West Hollywood, California.

P.S.: You can order these two great books online.

The Andy Warhol Diaries ( Twelve, Reprint edition, December 2, 2014 ) Edited by Pat Hackett.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, 40th Ed. Taschen August 12, 2020.