Eye of the beholder indeed. That's the only thing still keeping this industry alive. Everyone involved in it has indoctrinated themselves into seeing value where there is none.
Around 100 years ago the art community suffered an identity crises and came out of it with its priorities pretty much inversed. Self-referentialism became the main focus and by the 1970's about anything that could be done had been done. The problem is that it didn't end there, the dog kept chasing its own tail in circles digging a hole under its feet and still today it doesn't seem like it will ever get out of it.
I have an art background, and in college I knew what it was like to almost "get" it. But luckily I saw through it. It's not hard to change someone's values. Up is down, good is bad, love is hate. Cults do it all the time. And it's even easier if you can make it feel like you're smarter than other people if you hold these views.
Modern art and postmodern art has long abandoned humanity and its values. It seems happy to be a small club only for the elite.
Good thing we don't need them. There's more great art being made today than at any other point in time, easily accessible to anyone.