Video No. 6061. English Language Pal VHS.
An Exploration of Art on Film.
'Pleasures Of The Eye'.
Directed by Gero von Boehm.
One of the most universally popular and critically acclaimed artists of the 20th century, David Hockney's skill lies in his sometimes startling use of colour and perspective and his intense and impassioned exploration of a variety of forms.
Ideas come from many different sources but his vibrant and comfortably relaxed house in the Hollywood Hills, where much of the film was made, is a constant source of inspiration, as is his beach house in Malibu. Hockney talks about his philosophy, his life and his work, acting as a guide to the large narrative painting 'A Visit With Christopher And Don, Santa Monica Canyon', to one of his 1980s photocollages and to an exhibition of his stage designs for Eric Satie's 'Parade In Munich'. The cameras also capture him organising a rehang of his paintings at a show in Rotterdam and speaking with great charm at the opening of his major drawings exhibition at the Royal Academy, London.
Seen in his element driving his red sports car through the Santa Monica mountains to the strains of Wagner and enthusiastically participating in a race of his beloved dachshunds, Hockney comes over as a good-humoured fellow, but with a melancholy side, a gentle artist whose greatest pleasure lies in visual beauty.
