Enzo

By VITTI Cycling

January 12^th, 2021

The Birth of Enzo

Enzo Vitti was born in Varese in 1902, to his parents Luisa and Matteo Vitti. He was a small curious boy who learned to ride before he could walk. Enzo spent every moment when not helping his father in his bakery on his bike. Enzo would be gone at first light most days to ride the long climb to the top of the Monte Campo dei Fiori and to ride around Lago Maggiore exploring villages and roads that led high into the mountains. He always made sure to stop at his nana's house every day to spend some time with her and to get a mid ride meal before racing her dog down the narrow cobbled lane into the next village. Enzo spent his days riding into the mountains and along country roads finally rolling back home as the last rays of sun fell across the fields ... at least how we like to think of him. The truth is that Enzo is the spiritual leader of Vitti Cycling. He is a symbol of a time and of the golden age of Italian cycling created by the amazingly talented Mike Freedom.

One of the great things we have experienced is the ability to meet and collaborate with extremely talented like minded people from all over the world. When we first saw the work of Mike Freedom in our Instagram feed we were instantly transfixed by his use of color and shape and his overall vision. We came to know Mike and realized we shared so many influences from art to film and music that a collaboration was destined to be. Through a chat on instagram we shared images of Italian life including espresso, pasta, film stills of Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni and of course Monica Vitti. We talked about all things Italian from a certain period and how those icons of Italian life and art and cinema had shaped our mutual views of European culture, thus the idea for Enzo was born and eventually brought fully to life by Mike.

We are beyond grateful to have had the experience to work with Mike Freedom on this project and hope you enjoy our Interview with him.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from? How long have you been painting? Why painting? What is it about the medium that speaks to you?

I’m a multi-disciplined artist living & working on the new south wales south coast, Australia. It sounds a tad cliche perhaps but there’s never been a time that I can recall, where I didn’t create. I’ve always made art, from the youngest age I have. Painting would be a main method of art I use of course, I always painted in acrylics & received my first oil paints from my mother, around the age of 10, so I was having fun with brushes early. Prior to the street art era, I began to write & paint graffiti - this enlarged my idea of how painting could be accomplished, in size & materials, which also increased my technical abilities, this, because of the early pursuit of skill that hip hop required back then, which connected practice & knowledge, an ethic that still contributes to what I do now.

You and I share a love for Italian culture, especially from a certain period. Where does that come from? Can you talk about movies you love, artists, music, actors and general Italian and European culture that you draw influences from?. Why does it speak to you as an artist?

This shared appreciation, for me, comes from a few sources, one being my uncle, who passed away a few years ago. He was half Italian half Maltese. As a child I would stay at my cousins place often, which was where I was exposed to food that now brings the warmest memories back. My aunties spaghetti & parmesan that I tasted was how I’ve judged every other plate that crossed my table from that point on. It sounds like no big deal to some but Australian food in the 1970's was very different to today, where immigration played a welcomed influence upon our national palette. It was impactful. Likewise, the era my parents & their siblings migrated to Australia has made me nostalgic over the years. The post war years of the 1950’s & 60’s held an optimism that we have lost today, I believe. There is also an attraction to the aesthetic simplicity of what I observe in some of the movies from this era. There’s this juxtaposition of modernity & the ancient world, which is very appealing to me. If you think of French new wave cinema which pushed boundaries, it was done on a shoestring & it became an artistic endeavour, same with Italian Cinema then, this mix of old world simplicity with style & charm has remained cool & iconic. I could cite many more things, like the golden age of travel & commercial illustration or the movie title work of Saul Bass etc, so these are just a few.

We are huge fans of your work and especially love the album covers. You've worked with a lot of musicians, how do you approach those projects? Is it different to do something for another artist? What is it about Jazz that speaks to you and how does it influence your work?

Fortunately, I’ve had the good fortune of working for clients who have not sought to control the direction of my work & want exactly what I do. In the instance of working with musicians on an album cover, the brief can sometimes be as simple as listening to the album & visually interpreting what I’ve heard. Often it’s simply a good marriage of understanding, whereas Jazz is definitely one of those artforms that transcends others & I have a great love for. I admire its history, it’s struggle, it’s masters & success. I find, despite it’s checkered history of drug use by some, that it has a sense of cultural nobility, a standard that must be attained. I like that.I like the ideas of things hard won & things that are the product of persistence & passion, it testifies to the character of those engaged in it. I’ve always liked to embed rhythm in what I create, a balance or harmony within a composition, Matisse thought Jazz contained meaning, it’s a meaning that must be felt. I value meaning I guess, Jazz has great meaning.

You have a truly impressive body of work including murals, paintings and album covers. Do you enjoy one over the other or do you look on these different projects the same way? What sort of work do you enjoy doing the most?

It’s a hard question to answer, because it’s like I need all of these expressions to influence each other. I’ll work on a cutout & then I’ll get an idea for a mural, likewise I’ll paint a canvas & need to go back to making a cutout or develop a concept in a different form & material. Likewise, each one is a respite from the other, it clears my sight & allows me to be more creative, which benefits everything in the end, so no, I don’t prefer one more than another.

Can you talk about the process of designing Enzo? How did that come about and the influence behind it? . Do you have any plans for ENZO? Anywhere you want to take him?

We had talked online for months, it was us, connecting our shared likes via links, images & movie clips etc but you had an idea for bringing a cycling character to life, a mascot of sorts. We clearly had an idea about classic 20th century Italy & the things we liked about it, & often spoke about touring Italy once the craziness of Covid had passed us by. We talked about the things we would do & see & the obligatory espresso’s that would be downed at each stop. We cited our shared love of the Bialetti man, l’amino con i baffi (the moustachioed little man). We knew we needed to develop a character of that same feel but different, a homage. In the process of me watching the movie Domenica d’Agosto (Sunday in August, 1950) I viewed a scene of young bike riders parked outside a cafe, here I began to envisage what might be and began to develop Enzo. Before we knew it, our fit & eager moustached Enzo was ready to cycle his own road. Since then, I’ve thought of developing Enzo’s environment, to take him places, to see where he can travel? A character depicting the many scenes of his cycling life - culture. There's much to unpack & show, maybe even a bit of animation might be on the cards also?

Enzo wearing all the kit

Australia has been through the wringer lately with fires and covid. How has that shaped any of your work if at all?

2020 has been a storm of a year for sure, no one saw it playing out the way it has, at all. The fires exhausted us I think & we’ve all had to deal with the restrictions Covid has brought upon life globally & so I guess before it having any influence upon my work, it first influenced my attitude. I don’t like fear & that’s what descended upon us all. Now fear is useful, it can give you a bit of wisdom, make you cautious, make right decisions etc, so I’m not dismissing it completely but it shouldn’t stop you from living. That was my biggest takeaway from everything. I wanted to see leaders speaking encouragement not retreat or restriction, develop a fighting attitude in society. Which became a triple whammy for me, as I was diagnosed with cancer in this period & had to strengthen my mind & heart to not fear but fight. I had my operation & here I am - so with my art in this time, it became a part of that attitude I wanted to see in society, I could've been doom & gloom about things but chose to be active & positive, no matter what reality was seemingly dictating.

What do you do to relax? What do you do when you’re not painting?

I create mostly, I make art or go for a drive through the country. I enjoy watching movies or TV series, though I’m so picky in this area - it’s getting harder. I’d like to go back to reading more. Though by & large, I can’t relax if I’m not making art.