> If someone else is dictating your craft, you're the tool, not the artist

Not quite. According to this view, prominent artists from the Renaissance were just tools. Patronage made possible some of the best pieces in art history. In fact artists didn't even get to pick their subjects until relatively recently.

The line between commercial (commissioned), craft and artistic endeavour (self-expression) are often blurred.

And yes, art is escaping definition, and it should.