Just imagine television, the movies, the magazines, and the billboards without the visual image. Communication involves senders and receivers. And the better the pot does its job, pouring tea, for example, the more aesthetic or beautiful it is. We can look at art as a mirror. The work of the artist reflects society.
People can look at themselves and at the ideas of their society in the artist's mirror.
The artist makes clear what people don't ordinarily see. Historians when they study past ages, study art, not just to find out about art, but to find out about religion and architecture and food and science and clothing and ideas. Some people say that we can see the world in the artist's mirror. Some say that we see the world through the artist's eyes. Yes, the artist is creative, imaginative, inventive.