Ithaka Darin Pappas (born July 8, 1966), known professionally as Ithaka, is an American-born multidisciplinary artist of Greek ancestry who creates using music, sculpture and photography (both as separate entities or using them in combination with each other). He has published short stories in international magazines and periodicals, which have sometimes been the basis for his travel-oriented lyrical content.[12] In a 2005 article for the magazine Waves, journalist Ricardo Macario described Ithaka as The Miscellaneous Man.[13] In a 2008 review of Ithaka's 6th album, Saltwater Nomad, the online surf-culture platform
Surfline stated that; the artist effortlessly traverses at ease between all of his choses mediums of expression [music, sculpture, writing and photography], and that, his life's journey is a soulful balancing act somewhere between the worlds of euphoric creation and aquatic diversion.[14]
Early Life
Ithaka was born and raised in coastal
Southern California, and began experimenting with his father’s 35mm and 120mm cameras at the age of five. He began surfing at the age of twelve, after vacationing with a friend’s family on the Hawaiian island of
Maui and observing the locals riding six-foot tubes at
Honolua Bay. “That’s the life for me”, he thought to himself.[15] Upon returning to California, he sold his drum kit to buy a surfboard. The ocean, until present day, has been a major influence for the artist. As a young adult he began traveling the world in search of waves and adventure, largely inspiring his photography, three-dimensional artworks and voyage-oriented lyrics and stories.[16][17] As he told Dance Club Magazine in a 2005 interview, I live it, write it, rap about it.[18]
He has since resided and worked in a variety of locations including; Greece, Japan, Portugal, Brazil and Mexico.[19]
Career
Photography
WC of the group
Low Profile photographed by Ithaka in 1989
Ithaka's first professional photograph was published in 1984, in
Thrasher skateboarding magazine.[20]
Much of his early portraiture work was of aspiring Hollywood actors, but he then began getting more involved in music industry photography, working with Los Angeles area hip hop artists such as;
A Lighter Shade of Brown,[21] Big Lady K,[22]Low Profile,
Eazy E and
N.W.A..[23]
After the release of
F. Gary Gray's 2015 biographical drama about
gangsta rap pioneers
Eazy E and
N.W.A., entitled
Straight Outta Compton, there was renewed visibility in some of the early pictures that Ithaka Darin Pappas had made of the artists (all created while freelancing for Priority Records between 1988-1990). In 2016, many of his photographs, including the cover of their 1989
Straight Outta Compton remix single release, were projected as a backdrop at
Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York during the induction ceremony officially admitting N.W.A into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2017, more photographs appeared in the
HBO documentary, The Defiant Ones directed by
Allen Hughes.[24][25] Other photographs of N.W.A. by Ithaka were shown in the 2018 museum exhibition "Hip-Hop : Un Age d'Or" (or The Golden Age Of Hip Hop) at the
Musée d'Art Contemporain in
Marseille, France.[26]
"Amanari" a reincarnated surfboard sculpture by artist Ithaka Darin Pappas from the series, Jurema (2009)
Sculpture
The ongoing sculpture series entitled
The Reincarnation Of A Surfboard[40] which Ithaka began in 1989 (which includes over three-hundred individual contemporary artworks created from recycled surfboards) has been exhibited in Europe, Asia, the United States and also in Brazil, at
São Paulo Museum of Image and Sound. In an interview given to Surf Portugal magazine in 2012 while attending one of Ithaka's exhibitions in Europe, world-renowned graphic artist
Dave Carson described Ithaka's work as experimental, unexpected and surprising and in a 2013 report about his work,
Fuel TV considered him one of the world's premier contemporary surf artists.[41][42][43][44][45][46]
Although a citizen of the United States who vocalizes in English, because Ithaka was living and recording in Portugal for several years during the mid-late 1990s, at the very beginning of the hip hop movement in the country, he is often included in the genre of music known as
Hip hop tuga and sometimes considered one the founding artists along with: Black Company,
Boss AC, Zona Dread, Family, Funky D, New Tribe, Lideres da Nova Mensagem,
Da Weasel, Mind Da Gap, and
General D.[53][54]
During his most active recording years in Portugal (1994-1997), the artist's musical projects were nominated for a total of nine
Pemios Blitz (the Portuguese
Grammy Awards) including; Best Album (for
Flowers and the Color of Paint in 1995 and
Stellafly in 1997)[58] and Best Male Vocalist (in 1995 and 1997). In addition, the prestigious national newspaper,
Público, awarded his 1997 release Stellafly as "Album Of The Year" and considered a song from the record
Seabra Is Mad (musically co-written by Ewan Butler and Joe Fossard)[59] as both the "Song Of The Year" and "Video Of The Year". Público also cited his debut release Flowers And The Color Of Paint as one of the country's Ten Most Influential Albums Of The 1990s, while a 2020 article in Rua Magazine proclaimed that Flowers And The Color Of Paint was one of the twenty albums that changed the Portuguese music industry.[60][61][62]
Writings
During the mid-1990s until the mid-2000s, writings from Ithaka’s collection of ocean-related short story series entitled, ‘’Fishdaddy Chronicles’’ (including titles such as "Zé dos Cães")[63] were published in the surfing magazines;
Surfer,
The Surfer’s Journal,
Wavelength (UK),
Transworld Surf and Water Magazine. In 2009, one of the stories, “Miracle At Malibu”, was published in the collective hardbound book, Surf Story.[64][65][66][67][68]
Works
Discography (Solo Releases)
1992 So Get Up (single) [Embryo Entertainment][69]
1993 So Get Up & The Lost Acapellas (spoken word album) [Sweatlodge Records][70][71][72]
^Portulez, Rui (December 21, 2001).
"Ithaka pela estrada fora" [Ithaka On The Road]. Público (in Portuguese). Portugal: Público. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
^Rodrigues, Nuno (October 1, 2007).
"O Mundo Pela Lente de Ithaka" [The World Thru The Lens Of Ithaka] (PDF). Dance Club (in Portuguese). Portugal: Dance Club. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
^Silva, Beatriz (April 17, 2013).
"Sagres Surf Culture: Ithaka Is Also Mad" [Sagres Surf Culture: Ithaka Is Also Mad]. I Online (in Portuguese). Portugal: Sapo. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
^Vasconselos, Adriano (September 18, 2010).
"Ithaka Room" [Ithaka Room]. Hardcore (in Portuguese). Brazil: Outside. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
^Zuch, Lucas (October 1, 2012).
"AS MULTIFACETAS DO ARTISTA ÍTHAKA" [THE MULTI-DIMENSIONS OF THE ARTIST ÍTHAKA]. Surfari. Brazil: Surfari. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
^Weas, Da (Dec 10, 2011).
"Premios Musica Blitz 1997" [Bltz Awards 1997]. Da Weasel (in Portuguese). Portugal: Da Weasel.pt. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
^"Seabra Is Mad". memorylanemusicgroup.com. November 28, 1997. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
^Belanciano, Vítor (March 14, 2014).
"Como ocupar um espaço vazio e dar-lhe sentido" [How To Occupy An Empty Space And Make Sense Of It]. Público (in Portuguese). Portugal: Público. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
^Antunes, João (August 7, 2007).
"Zé dos Cães" [Jose Of The Dogs]. Tempo De Viajar (in Portuguese). Portugal: tempodeviajar.com. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
^Franco, Nuno (December 12, 2012).
"Ithaka's The Reincarnation Of A Surfboard" [Ithaka's The Reincarnation Of A Surfboard]. Nuno Franco (in Portuguese). Portugal: nunofranco.pt. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
^"Waves". Waves.terra.com.br (in Portuguese). Archived from
the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-11-07.
^{cite web|url=
http://vimeo.com/54389004 |title=Abertura da exposição "The Reincarnation of a Surfboard" de Ithaka na WOA on Vimeo |website=Vimeo.com |date=2012-11-27 |access-date=2015-11-07}}
^"Ithaka at Hurley". Wayofarts.com. October 11, 2013. Retrieved March 25, 2021.