The mourning after: why we should celebrate artists while they are alive

This year saw profound losses to the world of art. Richard Hamilton, Cy Twombly and Lucian Freud all died. They won't make any more work. Their creativity belongs to the past now. We can't bask in being their contemporaries.

On the other hand, their deaths came at the end of long and acclaimed lives. The Egyptian artist, Ahmed Basiony, was shot dead by security forces in Cairo in the early days of the Arab spring this January. He was born in 1978.

All these deaths were widely mourned, from the pavilion dedicated to Basiony at the Venice Biennale to the many memories of Freud that rushed into print. But how honest and how useful are these cults of the artistic dead?

It seems that every week, a major figure in the arts is mourned by the media – this week it is Ken Russell. Sometimes it seems the obituary pages are taking over the arts pages. It has become a media ritual, this black-veiled lamentation of the passing of creative figures – and it is not a healthy way to celebrate them.

Of all the artists who passed away this year, the one whose death meant most to me was Twombly, because his life meant most to me. But I am not especially proud of writing about his loss. What I am proud of is writing a catalogue essay for one of his last exhibitions, in which I could express my admiration and gratitude in words I knew he would read. It was a luxury fan letter.

Art is for the living. If someone has lived creatively and you are grateful, for goodness sake, write them a letter, or create a website about them; get an article about them published if you have the opportunity, or if you are an editor, commission tributes while she or he can read them. What is the point of making a fuss when they are gone? It is morbid and to me it seems inauthentic.

Art should not go gentle into that good night. The fire of it should illuminate the living, not sanctify the dead. Grand funerals are for soldiers, not for artists. Art lives on, and the works of the big three artists who died this year are not going to be forgotten quickly. Instead of lamenting the lost, we should be celebrating their achievements, and saying thank you, while they are still among us. So stop this saccharine artistic morbidity. Instead, pick your favourite living creative artist – and write them a fan letter.