Im not a game dev if i only contribute the artwork. Opinion?

For context i am an artist currently employed in a games company. A friend and I were discussing making our own indie game as a personal project.

I told her I would only like to focus on contributing the artwork because i dont know any coding or technical stuff related to that. I can attempt learning it but it will only slow me down. The games ideas we discussed about is very graphics intensive, lots of assets to draw and design etc. This friend and I will be the only members in the project so I thought I will be contributing a ton already to the visual aspects of the game.

Friend tells me that artwork in a game is the least important thing about the game and if i only do artwork, i am not considered a game dev. I disagree but I am not sure. What is your opinion? I have never done any games on my own before