[horacekenneth]

Hokusai might have created fine art by chasing a chicken with paint on its feet across a canvas, but in this case he did invent a new technique to achieve a certain aesthetic. Blurry&grainy prints and the mood created by these defects are not exactly novel, though.

You're very intent on whether they are innovating or not but I don't think innovation is what makes an artist an artist. Inventing HDR or Instagram doesn't make that person an artist, but if they do something really good with it, then they are an artist and an innovator.

Clive James' point about Hokusai is not that he invented something new, his point is that he did something incredibly simplistic and kind of inane to create a winning image. And he could do that because Hokusai was not simplistic or inane.
Like Michael Kenna or Moersch shooting with a Holga - it isn't art because they are the first ones to do it, it's art because they are so good that they can take a very simple fallible tool and make something beautiful.