Sounds like a very ambigous question and deserves an ambiguos answer. Art doesn't have to be inovative in my opinion it just has to make you think or show you a image of a earlier time. Actually it sounds like a stupid question to be inovative is to be more effecient or for something to function a better way. That's great if your talking about toasters but has no place in the art world unless your talking about water colors. Walt Whitman was a poet I guess you could considr him a literal artist but he's known as a poet.
