I'm not sure if it's possible to define art beyond the fact that you know it when you see it. For example, signing a urinal and putting it in a gallery doesn't make it art, at least to me. Some people find it brilliant art.
Different people will perceive different things as art. While in high school, I went to the Art Basel (one of the premiere art shows in the country). There were amazing works of art there. One of my favorites was a very large painting that from a distance appeared to be entirely white. It was about 15 feet wide and 8 feet tall and upon closer inspection revealed one of the most detailed works I've ever seen. It was all a matter of perspective. At first, it didn't seem like art at all. But, when you got close, it was a brilliant piece depicting an epic scale (that also sold early in the day for an epic price of over a million dollars).
At the same time, some of the works weren't quite as brilliant. There was the weird, a bronze entitled "Dead Crack Whore", to the just not art, a room made to look like a mad scientists dissection room and on the operating table in the center was an 8 foot tall toy rabbit with its plush entrails hanging out. That's why I don't think art can be wholly defined. Everyone's definition is different and those definitions are constantly evolving.
Take Nathan Sawaya's lego sculpture above. As a kid I loved legos (still do), so I can appreciate the skill and the difficulty in making such a work. Other people will just think that it's cool but not art and other people won't think it's art at all but rather on the same level as making something from playdough.
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