"Umbilicus": Japanese Bellybuttons as seen through the lens of photographer Ithaka Darin Pappas (new book).

 

"Umbilicus"Japanese Bellybuttons. 

The new photography book by Ithaka Darin Pappas

UMBILICUS (127 Japanese navel portraits) by Ithaka Darin Pappas 1992

"UMBILICUS" (the Tokyo  belly-button project)

by artist, Ithaka Darin Pappas 

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"UMBILICUS" by Ithaka Darin Pappas (Japanese belly-button project - 1992) @photographer_ithaka.d.pappas *To schedule this exhibit at a museum or gallery - or for merchandising inquiries, please contact ithaka.official@gmail.com

Although originally conceived in 1988, it wasn’t until the summer of 1992, while briefly living in Japan, that Ithaka Darin Pappas began and completed his photographic project UMBILICUS, a collection of one-hundred and twenty-seven black and white navel portraits. During a period of two months, Ithaka combed the streets of Tokyo is search of willing belly-button subjects.

However, photographing in the light of day, sometimes in the middle of public squares and parks filled with thousands of people, did not prove to be an easy task. Japanese people were quite shy when asked to show their navels in public to a stranger, further complicated by the fact that the photographer was a Gaijin (foreigner).

For this reason some sessions were held in the subjects’ homes or offices after first meeting them in public. Regardless, because of the high rejection rate (10-20 refusals for every one acceptance), sometimes it would take an entire day just to complete the belly-button portrait of only one or two subjects. In addition to the Japanese majority of navels photographed, a percentage of outsiders were also included. These individuals were from Brazil, China, Denmark, England, Germany, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United States. Subject ages ranged from three to ninety-six. In addition to the Japanese majority of navels, a percentage of outsiders were also included. People from Brasil, China, Denmark, England, Germany, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and the United States. Says Ithaka, “I didn’t photograph tourists for the project, but only actual residents of Tokyo.The foreigners who participated, mostly in their 20s-40s, were all living full-time in Tokyo and held a diverse spectrum of jobs from dishwasher to scientist. Among the Japanese subjects - I photographed the navels of children as young as three (as well as those of their parents) and elderly people too, one in his late 90's. The end result of UMBILICUS wasn’t only a study of human anatomy, but in actuality, concluded in becoming an anthropological observation of Tokyo’s population in 1992."

UMBILICUS was published for the first time in January 1993 in the Japanese edition of the world-renowned fine art photography quarterly called Déja-Vu (Issue #11), the same issue that photographic legends Inose Kou, Frederick Sommer and Nobuyoshi Araki appeared. Other international magazine appearances of UMBILICUS soon followed. In 1995, the rock group Flood (signed to the Portuguese label, União Lisboa) chose images from UMBILICUS to appear on the front and back cover of their debut album, Despertar.

In 1996, the San Francisco culture magazine Speak featured Ithaka’s UMBILICUS as their cover-story. The cover itself (designed by world-famous graphic artist Martin Venesky) was considered controversial, causing the magazine to be returned by many of their distributors. It was the worst-selling issue in the magazine’s history.

Also in 1996, UMBLILICUS was exhibited at Lisbon’s Instituto Português do Juventude, with selected images printed as large as two-meters wide and toned with Ithaka’s trademark deep blues. Later in 1998, UMBILICUS was shown at Galeria Zé dos Bois (ZDB) in Lisbon, as part of Ithaka's larger photographic exhibit entitled, Quality Time. #bellybuttons #photography #ithakadarinpappas ________________________________________________________________ Ithaka is represented by WOA-Way Of Arts (Portugal) and Coffin Alley Gallery (US)

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Photo: Ithaka Darin Pappas © 2018

Note: These images are not Public Domain, it is Necessary to acquire authorization

thru my myself ithaka.official@gmail.com or my representatives at the Tack Artist Agency Group in Los Angeles before reproducing in print, online or merchandising ... thank you.

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https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12579280/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_1

Inspiring photographers: Shihachi Fujimoto, Bruce Gilden Hisae Imai, Takeji Iwamiya, Akira Komoto, Motoichi Kumagai, Seiji Kurata, Michiko Matsumoto, Aizō Morikawa, Eiichi Moriwaki, Tadayuki Naitoh, Kiyoshi Nishiyama, Yoshino Ōishi, Kōji Satō, Tokihiro Satō, Bukō Shimizu, Mieko Shiomi, Teikō Shiotani, Raghubir Singh, Yutaka Takanashi, Toyoko Tokiwa, Haruo Tomiyama, Kansuke Yamamoto 

Ithaka Exhibit: City Life: Greed, Hunger and Loss

ASAHI EVENING NEWS, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1992

               Fine Arts

City  Life:  Greed,  Hunger and  Loss

By M. Jordan

Special to the Asahi Evening News

   The work now being shown at Galerie YMA in Tokyo, is that of photographer/sculptor, Ithaka.  Although these two mediums seem at first glance to be separate entities, these photos show that the two seem to go hand in hand.  The photographs are a journey into the mysteries of emotions.  When looking at them you cannot help but get caught up into the feelings they conjure; happiness, remorsefulness, confusion unknowingness, mournfulness.

 Ithaka enables the viewer to take a look into the world (perhaps his own hermetic world) of bottled up emotions.  His work is truly personal, his subjects are close friends of his, yet one doesn't feel left out when viewing them.

  Ithaka began assisting photographers at a very young age and shortly thereafter went out on his own.  He has shot photographs for nearly every fashion magazine including, Vogue, Elle and Glamour, and has also shot the record covers for many bands.  The problem for Ithaka was that working specific photograph jobs compromised him from the start.  He began doing sculptures as a way to take a break from the rigors of the job.

   The sculptures used in the photos are cut and restructured surfboards.  All have taken on a new form as well as a new life, displaying the forms of the human body (usually female) as well as Ithaka's own creations.  Before restrictions had been placed on him as to how he could shoot his photos; he had been forced to take a back seat.  Now what he was yearning for was to create his own type of photographs.  He son began to fuse the two mediums, hence coining his own term "sculptography."

   Although Ithaka (Ithaka darin Pappas) was born and raised in Los Angeles, the city proved to have too strong of an impact on his work.  Los Angeles was too overbearing; and he no longer wanted to struggle against the Los Angeles mindset that declares its self to be the center of the globe.  This Los Angeles mindset is perfectly encapsulated in his sculptures shown in this exhibit, entitled "Greed, Hunger, Loss," all representing aspects typical of any metropolis.

   His photos also show the lost feelings that are hard to recover when living in a big city, yet they always remind us of why this loss occurs.  Lying peacefully stretched out in the sand we are mesmerized by the serenity of "Joni by the Sea," yet down below the rocky cliff reality sets in showing what the city is all about--we see a Mercedes and a Lamborghini on the highway below.  Our illusion is shattered and we are immediately pulled back into the present.

 Ithaka 's search for eternal well being has led him to Lisbon, Portugal where he is now based.  Portugal offers him a new outlook on life,.  According to Ithaka, "life here is more simple, when you're in a place like this -- life is about you and the people around you, not the world at large."  One has to wonder where this new exploration will now take him, or us.

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Works by Ithaka at Galerie YMA

(03-3562-0007 on Suzurandori in Ginza near Ginza subway station through Oct.7. 

The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

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Ithaka Art Featured in (Tarzan Magazine Japan)

The artwork of Californian artist, 

Ithaka 

as featured in Tarzan Magazine in Japan.

Pieces shown in article, Nela, Olga, Roula

(from the series Tree Girls, Flower Sisters & Mother Nature) 

Ravensplice I, Stella Fish, The Price Of Peace ? 

and Mostellafly (blue toned photograph).

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Ithaka on instagram: @_ithaka_

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ithaka.artist

Contact: ithaka.art@gmail.com

Represented by: Gallery: WOA - Way Of Arts

goncaloleandro@wayofarts.com

Ithaka wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaka_(musician)