How do first principles aid innovation in artistic creation?

Let's put it this way: First principles are like throwing out all the preconceived notions in your head about "this is how painting should be" or "this is how music should be," and then asking yourself the most fundamental question: "What is this thing, at its absolute core?"

Let me give you an example, like "painting."

Most people (following experience) would think: Painting is done on paper or canvas, using pigments and brushes. This is what we've learned since childhood; it's "experience."

But if you think with first principles, you'd ask:

1. What is the essence of "painting"? — Its essence is to express a feeling or a story on a flat surface through colors, lines, and shapes.
2. Does it have to be a "canvas"? — No. Can it be a wall? (Hence graffiti art). Can it be a computer screen? (Hence digital painting). Can it be the ground? (Some artists create on the ground).
3. Does it have to be "pigments"? — No. Can it be light? (Hence light painting). Can it be a pile of discarded items? (Hence installation art). Can it be code? (Hence generative art).
4. Does it have to be a "brush"? — Even less so. Using your hands directly, spray cans, or even letting paint drip on its own (like the painter Pollock) are all valid.

You see, once you break down "painting" into its most primitive, fundamental elements — "creating visual images on a surface" — you are no longer constrained by the traditional idea that "you must paint with a brush on canvas." Your creative possibilities instantly expand from 10 to 10,000. This is where innovation comes from.

Music operates on the same principle. What is the essence of music? It's "organizing sounds to express emotions." Does it have to be a piano or a guitar? No. Can rhythms made by banging pots and pans count as music? Can computer-synthesized sounds? Can you even organize "silence" itself as a sound? (The composer John Cage wrote "4'33"," a piece with no notes at all, inviting listeners to hear the sounds of their environment).

So, in artistic creation, first principles play the role of relentlessly "asking fundamental questions." They help artists break free from the habitual thinking of "this is how everyone else does it," return to the core essence of creation, and start anew from that bare-bones beginning. This way, you're not imitating or fine-tuning the works of predecessors, but creating something of your own in a completely new dimension. This is the true source of innovation.