Yesterdays quote for the day:

The artist brings something into the world that didn't exist before, and he does it without destroying something else. -John Updike, writer (1932-2009)

Both parts of this statement kept me thinking.
It all depends on how widely you take the the meaning “artist” ; “did not exist before” and what you understand by “destroying” .

“artist” and “didn’t exist before” :

A knitter who knits an article from a self invented pattern is an artist if you stick to the statement. Anyone molding something out of clay is an artist. Does it have to be proved something that it did not exist before? Is it verifiable?

Second part of the statement:
“he does it without destroying something else.”

Michelangelo had a lot of mountain parts demolished to bring all these glorifying marble statues into the world. Michelangelo had nightmares about how to get and transport all that marble.
Ivory cutting has been the ruin of many a healthy elephant and ivory rendering animals.
For woodcarving you need to damage the wood.

I think Updike must have had only the writer/poet in mind when he made this statement.
Writers cause relatively little material damage writing books. Although following the expression that the pen is mightier than the sword, who knows. Reputations and believes can be destroyed by a sharp pen.

Is it strictly observed only the singer and spoken word performing artists who can do
without any destroying?