Pablo Picasso once said, “Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.”

I disagree with Picasso on this one.  Technically, he is right, any time I gesso over a white canvas, I have “destroyed” the white that was already there, nicely sanded down ready to work on. And opening a new tube of paint, means that perfectly factory filled oblong shaped is “destroyed.” But to me, art is building on top of something that already exists, not destroying the building blocks of art.

What do you think?  Does anything that is created destroy what was there before?