Behind the Scenes 1: David Hockney [VHS]

Hosted by famous illusionists Penn and Teller, this segment in a PBS art primer series for children offers insight into "how depth is created on a flat surface." Using multiple animated and live-action examples, Penn and Teller cattily and chattily illustrate principles of perspective, vanishing point, and composition. From his studio, David Hockney makes a somewhat precious appearance throughout the show to demonstrate how "ways of seeing" and movement can result in a literally distorted drawing of a chair. Looking at the chair more closely, however, reveals multiple perspectives. Vanishing point is demonstrated by a graphic artist using a computer and clip-art animals. Whimsical cartoons show how art can "come alive" through the simple use of basic principles. The series is reminiscent of the vignette style of Sesame Street--live-action sequences, which include children as well as "grown-up" actors, are interspersed with animated shorts with song and music. Grade-school-aged children will enjoy Behind the Scenes the most, but any adult will enjoy the witticisms of Penn and Teller and the cute cartoony reminders that art is all around us. --Gilia Angell

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