Art or handiwork?

Reading about the Mona Lisa in Lego, ie made out of, this morning I was intrigued to see the angle columnist Elizabeth Fortescue had taken. She questioned whether art is still art if the artist doesn’t "do” it. She used the example of Damien Hirst, the UK artist famous for dead sharks and cows in tanks of preserving liquid. If the work is carried out by others, albeit to his specifications, is it still “his” – especially as that special touch the artist brings to the finished work is not included – and anyone following the same specifications can reproduce the piece? (Can you patent an art idea?) As an aside, mate T, when we were talking about this, pointed out that Elizabeth’s background is in architecture – where award winning designers have their works assembled by others.