Or in other words can only fanart be considered art?

Something that dawned on me. Every browse through deviantart or instagram and check through the original art sections? Like say go browse through fantasy art and find a really well done illustration of a dragon. No particular dragon from any story, just a fantasy dragon. It's by all counts technically sound, but you don't really CARE about it? Like you would if you knew the dragon from some story.

I'm making this thread because I've been struggling to find any motivation to make original art, because I may come up with a really cool idea for a piece, but without any sort of story to attach me to the subjects I don't really care about them. It's the reason why fanart is so popular compared to original art. People know the characters so they find emotional resonance with the piece. But even as an artist, I find I can't really draw anything but fanart anymore. It's not just that, but when making original fantasy art, you're drawing characters in a world that hasn't been realized at all. Say I wanna draw a bunch of dwarves fighting a cave troll. Who are these dwarves? What is their culture like? Why are they fighting this troll? Where'd the troll come from? Etc., without a fully realized world to back up the subjects I'm drawing I find it so much harder to draw anything because all these questions race through my head. It has no CONTEXT I guess is what I mean.

It bothers me because I really don't think art should have to rely on having a story one is already familiar with to back it up, because then I'm saying art can't stand on it's own and literally only fucking fanart has any value.

Pic related. Really good piece of art skillwise, but I don't really feel any care for it. Maybe it's just me.