IMO you are the web designer he is acting like an apprentice. I can see how you might want to insulate from the technical constraints in effort to push the boundaries, but if the design is not considering the user's interactions, accessibility, browser limitations, SEO as well as things like calls to action and the design goals (profit or throughput or whatever) then they're not doing web design.
I'd say from your description you're a web designer employing a graphic artist.
Just 'shop-ing a design and transforming it to markup and styles tends to be print design that is put online rather than web design.
