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From: art tv reviews Category: Art Date: 24 December 2008 Time: 01:47 PM Review: A doc about a guy who spent 10 years drawing a picture of Marilyn Monroe with a magnifying glass and then wants to show it to David Hockney. Pointless huh, pointillism sort of. Available to watch on 4OD channels 4's iplayer. The question of artists, especially amateurs wanting approval from someone, anyone is interesting. It is a stage we all go through, or never get over, wanting someone, anyone, a set of criteria, to tell us whether our art is any good. Unfortunately the truth which the doc never gets at is that no-one reallly can (except the market, which is no longer looking so infallible) in the end we are left doing cos we do it, or cos we've made up our own criteria, become our own judge. As a documentary it is thin, there is nothing of the drawing, and it all become a pointless whimsical silly quest to meet Ockney, we are told so that he can introduce Pappas to someone who may help him or something. We meet his lovable hail marying family, and it all becomes sentimental and a bit like a restaurant makeover show. Hockney is underwhelmed as you knew he would be, really detailed pencil drawings (one example) are never that amazing even if done really slowly.