You're on point.

A good exercise anyone can do is to question why X or Y artists became a reference at a certain time.

You end up finding out it was about: the historical context, cultural disruption, influence during or after their life, consistency in pursuing their artistic expression... the list goes on.

In some cases the final outcome, the artifact, is "cool" on its own without the context, but in all cases, it's the artist that makes their body of work valuable and "cool".

Technology at the service of artists has played its role in new media and different ways to work with it, but it's mainly as a tool.