Artificial vs Artistic

Of late somebody trying to express himself in a very refined, intellectual way, confused while doing so the words 'artificial' and 'artistic' - at least that's the way I understood it as he was talking of the two sides to Banksy's art, the 'monetary' and the 'artificial'.

In German the word 'artistic/artistisch' bears a connotation that links it rather to the circus. Yet I would always rather be linked to a circus than to something artificial.

"I'm obsessed with life before death"... To the boredom dying slowly.