thenationofartists.com

Waiting for Hockney

Directed by Julie Checkoway

Featuring Billy Pappas, Larry Link, Cookie and Jim Pappas, Lawrence Wechsler, Charlie Scheips, Rene Sterner, Gary Vikan

Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek

Billy Pappas has a single image in his mind, of Marilyn Monroe, and a singular vision to paint her portrait in microscopic detail over the course of eight years and five months of full time application. 

Believing in himself as an artist, in his craft as a revolutionary way of "seeing," and backed by patrons in a charismatic architect named Larry Link (aka "Dr. Lifestyle"), Pappas pressed on for thousands of days until he completed the drawing. 

Convinced his work was as unprecedented as Pete Townshend's guitar amp and would blow the minds of the likes of Leonardo DaVinci, Pappas pinpointed British phenomenon David Hockney as the only suitable arbiter of judgment of his work, and began a journey pursuing colleagues and associates of the master artist to convince him to view his "Marilyn."

Pappas, a good looking resident of Choptank, Maryland, brings to the documentary an enviable spirit of adventure. And the investment that Pappas has made in his one portrait fills the film with an emotional sincerity that justifies the audience pull for this artist's success.

A writer whose work has appeared in "The New York Time," and whom reported for NPR's Morning Edition and PRI's This American Life, director Checkoway has pieced together a beautiful insight into the mind of a manic artist on a mission, and has captured the subjective undulating nature of the industry of art at large.

An official selection of Tribeca, Full Frame and Hot Docs film festivals, the DVD release from docurama films lives up to its billing as a "fascinating meditation on art, perseverance and obsession."