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.
Ms. Checkoway's debut film takes a deceptively simple approach to telling Billy Pappas's story, beginning with his morning rituals and ending with his getting into bed at night. A bit like what filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock refers to as a "McGuffin" (a plot device that advances the story, but is of little or no importance otherwise), the portrait that took Billy almost 10 years to complete does not appear until more than halfway through "Waiting for Hockney."
Ms. Checkoway's cinematic efforts to deglamorize Mr. Pappas's pursuit of success through vintage footage and home movies, among other devices, give the documentary an informal, light-hearted feel. They also help lay bare a number of the delusions we all carry around about what success means.
Billy Pappas and the members of his entourage are appealing enough to keep the audience interested and entertained for the documentary's 80 minutes. But it's hard to assess the ultimate worth of his remarkable portrait.
When it comes to explaining the nature of success in the modern world, the director has led us into a hall of mirrors. How much truth is in the assumption that one famous person's seal of approval will bring an aspirant the validation he craves? How relevant is celebrity to real worth? Is Billy Pappas's portrait of Marilyn Monroe really art? To what degree do chance and luck figure in success? The film raises the questions making it intriguing, even fun, to consider what the correlation is between talent and success.
"Waiting for Hockney," Saturday, April 4, 7:30 pm, Katharine Cornell Theatre, Vineyard Haven. $8; $5 for MVFS members. Doors open at 7 pm.
Brooks Robards regularly writes on books, film, art, and theater for The Martha's Vineyard Times.
