I'm sorry friend, but
art does build on prior
discoveries and
modes in much the same way
science does, In fact
paradigm shifts in art work very much the same way as they do in science. Of course it is usually a negative reaction to the old system that produces great art or science. For instance, a young group of artists or scientists will examine the work of a prior
generation and base their own styles on what they feel is missing or no longer relevant. In much the same way the older generation of scientists or artists will accuse the younger generation of being wrong or
frivolous or too extreme because their own world view is being threatened by the new discoveries.
Art techniques also follow a very similar way of advancing along with technologies as scientific ones. When a wider range of pigments can be used, suddenly we move from life drawings to expressionism. When more powerful telescopes and mathematical techniques are developed we move from an earth centered cosmology to a sun centered one.