The pursuit of artistic success
By Brooks Robards
Published: April 2, 2009
What is success, and how do we measure it? Written and directed by Julie Checkoway, a freelance reporter for NPR, the feature-length documentary film "Waiting for Hockney" is a fascinating study of a Maryland artist who spent a major part of his adult life defining and pursuing an elusive gold ring: validation, recognition - success based on the opinion of another. Her film, sponsored by the Martha's Vineyard Film Society (MVFS), will be shown Saturday at the Katharine Cornell Theatre.
Aspiring artist Billy Pappas, 35, was talented enough early on to have his drawings exhibited at the New York Society of Illustrators, but once he completed earning his degree at the Maryland Institute of Art, he decided he needed a mission. He wanted to create a portrait with the capability of "a bombastic live performance," something on a par with guitarist Pete Townsend -- by doing it in a way never done before.
Along happens architect Larry Link, a self-described dealer in fantasy, who encourages as well as financially supports Mr. Pappas. The two of them pick out a Richard Avedon photograph of Marilyn Monroe that Mr. Pappas uses as the basis for a pencil portrait of the actress that takes him more than eight years and $300,000 to complete.
Working obsessively to re-invent reality through a photograph that he describes as out of focus and detached, the artist uses special magnifying glasses to limn every physiognomic detail of Marilyn Monroe's iconic face. The goal upon completion is to show the portrait to celebrated English painter David Hockney, whom Mr. Pappas regards as his role model. If Mr. Hockney likes the portrait, Mr. Pappas believes he'll get commissions for more work and his hope of fame will be realized.
After all, Mr. Hockney, famous for his influential paintings and photomontages, has waged a controversial argument that early Renaissance painters used lenses to project images onto canvases that they could copy. According to him, it was the technique that led to the photo-realism of many Renaissance paintings.
In addition to Mr. Link, Mr. Pappas assembles a crew of supporters that includes his high school principal, Brother René; Baltimore's Walters Art Museum director, Dr. Gary Vican; and foremost, his mother, father, family and friends. It is with the help of Lawrence Weschler, director of New York University's Institute for the Humanities, that Mr. Pappas finally makes contact with Mr. Hockney and is rewarded with an appointment to visit him at his Los Angeles home and show him the portrait. A career is in the balance.
The camera is not privy to what transpires during the five-hour meeting, but the rest of the film centers around the results of that meeting.
