we meekly agree to let pseudo-intellectual governmental bureaucracies declare to us that which is Art.

Not sure what country you live in. [insert smile here according to your dictates] The country I live in used to fund art, until they decided to fund churches and wars instead. (I hear that the US Constitution makes a great fire-starter.) I personally would rather my tax dollars be spent on art (from Rockwell to Maplethorpe) than bailing out failed and (morally and financially) bankrupt businesses or promoting new dictators in faroff lands. YMMV.