In addition to his solo exhibition at the Palazzo Casali, 30 July-6 August, Daze created three works on site.  ’Dreamer,’ a diptych, was donated to the city of Cortona upon completion and will be on permanent view in the same town where Luca Signorelli painted many Renaissance masterpieces.  On hand to receive the painting were Tuscan Sun Festival impressario Barrett Wissman and Cortona major Andrea Vignini, accompanied by TV crews from RAI and national and local members of the press.

The fun really began when Niccolo Baldelli-Boni brought his 1969 Vespa 50 Special in for a make-over. ‘Lucia’s Bombshell’ held centre stage in the Piazza Signorelli before press and public.  The following day saw the arrival of a 1964 Lambretta Innocenti 150 LI belonging to Massimo Fumagalli for the Daze treatment.

“Lucia’s Bombshell is my 1969 Vespa 50 Special. It was found in 2009 by my friend Stefano Faragli in an old farmhouse in Tuscany in a state of quasi-total disrepair. Through his efforts and those of another brilliant mechanic, Guido Matassi, we painstakingly took the Bombshell apart piece by piece, fixed it, painted it, and lovingly put it all back together. The result was a perfectly restored symbol of Italian lifestyle encompassing a period of sixty years. From symbol of rebirth after the Second World War to symbol of everything “La Dolce Vita”, the Vespa is a symbol of Italy as much as the Fiat 500 or soccer and pizza are.

I was extremely fortunate to meet Daze, Mary Dinaburg and Howard Rutkowski this summer in Cortona, where they took part in the Tuscan Sun Festival where Daze had an exhibit…and excited when during a brainstorm the idea casually came to us to ask Daze if he would like to paint my Vespa. Daze said yes. After that, through the use of creative thinking and a significant number of Negroni cocktails, the idea took shape…

The result is absolutely thrilling.

Now I am no great expert of art, but I have a feeling that when Graffiti met Vespa both the scooter and the art form emerged somewhat influenced by one another in great harmony. I am incredibly grateful to Daze for what he has done and hope this may be a new form of expression for his art.

Finally I would also like to thank Lucia…mille e mille baci.

–Nicholas Baldelli-Boni”

The site of two icons of Italian scooter history in full New York regalia under the Tuscan sun in the center of one of Italy’s oldest cities was rather unique, causing the Corriere di Arezzo to hail Daze as ‘il Caravaggio delle Subway.’