Or we could provide decent baseline food, shelter, healthcare, and education to all human beings as a birthright.
You sound like a spoiled child. Where will all this food and healthcare come from? Do you think money, goods, and services automatically appear every time a baby is born?
Throughout human history, starvation and death have been the everyday norm. Now that we have finally found a system that changes that, you whine because it takes work.
What would art look like in a world where potential artists aren't forced to work soul-crushing jobs just to survive
Take it up with God, or nature. We have to eat, and food isn't free. If you actually expect that to change, you're an idiot.
Nobody forces anybody to work. That's just life. If you don't want to work, then don't. Most people who call themselves artists have never done a day's work, and they get paid accordingly.
If you want to remove all suffering from all artists, then say goodbye to Van Gogh, Beethoven, Emily Dickinson, and pretty much every good artist.
You're defending the same capitalism that has systematically defunded the arts over the course of the past three decades
No, it hasn't.
the same system which has made common the use of the phrase "starving artist"
Starving artists existed before the modern era, and so did loudmouths who are angry at the world for not giving them everything for free.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starving_artist