What you have been talking about are all true, but I think there is a small misunderstanding here~
When I say there are no fundamentals in creating art, I meant to say that when one creates art, the idealization of a vision should not be held down by rules, else the end results will be just in the "safe zone," and be like any other subjects. It is the risk that you have to take. Men who have made history have leaded a difficult path before they achieved something. It is because they are willing to take a path where no other man has taken before, and by all means, they don't succeed with just one try or 100 tries, but they have failed more that you can imagined, before they achieved something that will change history. But of course, not everyone of us are willing to take this path, as life to most of us, is too precious to suffer failures ^_^
Think about it~ How does everything in front of you came about? Nobody taught Bell to create a telephone. Nobody taught Edison to create a light bulb. Nobody taught Bill Bernbach that an advertising ad does not need to appear to be an advertising ad. They did because of their own visions and talents.
Every art movement that existed out there are because of someone decided to break away from the cookie cutter, and followed their visions and created a new perspective in art.
The fundamentals in art, which you are stressing on, are practiced in one's process of creating art.
When one goes to an art school, they will be taught on color theory, painting skills, etc. These are skills that could be taught and through practice, they could be perfected.
But what I'm stressing about is Talent. The talent to create a new perspective in art. Raw talent could be honed to perfection with the right skills or we could say fundamentals. But no talent could be honed with any perfected skills.
But ultimately, a talent is a very rare thing, so are those men that made history. Well, I guess what you say about this is true: “If you are not willing to learn from the fundamentals, and you teach that the fundamentals are worthless then everyone who goes into bonsai is left with the concept of re-inventing the wheel.” It is true because not every one of us has the ability to create something new when everything is almost already created
I’m a person who is willing to take chances and make things happen, even though it takes many countless tries
btw, Van Gogh is an expressionist.