Vladimir Baranov-Rossine

"What's the point of art?", the kids asked the other day. We distinctly remember posing the same question to our parents...

"To express creativity," we answered. "To make something out of nothing. To invent beauty."

"Sure," they replied. "But isn't it useless?"

Sigh.

Vladimir Baranov-Rossine was a Russian/French/Jewish avant-garde artist (that's his self-portrait). You see all of those shapes? Well, he found use for them: camouflage!

Yes, Baranov-Rossine (seriously, what a mouthful) applied techniques he used in cubo-futurism to create military camouflage. The spotted patterns used by armies throughout the world can all be traced back to him. So, there was at least one artist whose work wasn't completely useless... for better or for worse.

"So what if it's useless?!", we screamed out. "It's just art!"

Parenting, right?