First up in our VC X BELL Helmets project is the awesome artist Judy McNicol aka Wee Moody Judy !
Inspired by everything from mythology and witchcraft to reimagining queer iconography - the Scottish born, classically trained fine artist Judy McNicol is the creator of the most incredible risqué artworks and custom hand painted ceramics that would make your Granny blush.
We were so excited when Judy agreed to create a helmet for the project and we couldn’t think of a better base than the candy apple red Bell Bullitt as a canvas for one of Judy’s amazing artworks!
Check out Judy’s beautiful work, follow her on instagram @weemoodyjudy and check out her awesome custom painted Bell Bullitt full face helmet below!
Where are you from originally and where do you live now?
I am from Glasgow, Scotland and currently I live in London.
What first got you into illustration? Did you study art or are you self taught?
I studied Fine Arts at a small art school in Paris for four years and graduated with my BFA in 2018. Although my work today definitely leans towards an il- lustrative style I still consider myself a fine artist. I’ve always known I wanted to do something artistic “when I grow up” (when the hell will that be!?), that’s always been apparent - although the idea of what I want to practice has changed and evolved many times throughout my life! (It’ll come as no sur- prise to any astrology geeks reading that I’m a double Aries). I studied instal- lation art at university, which was very conceptually driven. Installation primar- ily deals with curating spaces and creating art as an experience. Which was very fun.... and also very challenging to pursue outside of art school! Out of lack of resources and not knowing where to go next once I had graduated I taught myself how to digitally illustrate (I had NEVER drawn on a tablet be- fore). Without really thinking too much of it or considering it as a path I’d end up going down I found myself really loving it and slowly with practice I be- came better and better at it! Now digital illustration plays a huge role in all my work and more often than not acts as a foundation I build on even for my ce- ramics and the helmet I designed for VC!
We love your ceramics! So beauts! Can you tell us more about how you de- sign and create them?
Thank you! I’ve always loved incorporating found objects into my work and breathing new life into them with art. An object can take on an entirely differ- ent meaning once its embellished or elevated from its previous context into a new one. (Your grannies tea set ain't just your grannies tea set any more once I’m done painting a couple of butt plugs on em.)
With my ceramics I source vintage pieces myself, always just keeping an eye out for something that stands out or feels special to me. I generally like to work on projects or “collections” of artworks at a time, often with a running theme throughout. Sometimes I’ll have a few set ideas of images I’d love to have on my ceramics but more often than not a specific ceramic piece will end up sparking an idea in my mind of what it should become. From there I measure out the ceramics and draw my designs for them on my tablet. Once I’ve got the design looking exactly the way I think they should, I print them onto film free decal papers (the most incredible invention in the world), soak the decals in water, then with an adhesive and gentle hands (these decals are amazing but are so easily damaged) I apply the decal to the ceramic and then fire! After the design has been fired onto the ceramics (and has had plenty of time to cool down) I hand embellish the pieces with ceramic paint and gold details, bake them once more and wallah! It’s a many step process but the results are incredible and I have loved working on them.
Where do you most get your inspiration from?
My inspiration pulls from a lot of things! From the nature, mythologies and mysticism I grew up around in Scotland, to the tongue in cheek play of being a Glaswegian. From being unashamedly Queer and learning to take up space as a woman to expressing the divine energy that is the Feminine. To my love of art history and my never ending desire to mesh that classical iconography with the popular culture references that surround us today. A blending of many things within my life and my past inspire and inform my work today.
How would you describe your style of work?
Queer, Witchy... utterly Shameless. haha. I think my work always has a soft- ness to it; it stands on its own, unashamed and confident but welcoming and a lil (lot) sensual and cheeky too. I like to use soft, fun colours, things that feel yummy and fresh but I’d say that my drawing style is fairly classical in that I illustrate in a more realistic manner with etch like techniques.
Have any other artists in particular been an influence on you?
Artists both dead and alive yes! As mentioned previously I love art history... where would we be without it!? (lol) I have been fascinated by Caravaggio’s 16th century Baroque painting of Bacchus since I was a teen and actually now have it tattooed on my arm! I love the painting not only for its beauty and because it portrays the Greek God of wine and chaotic behaviour but also for it’s subtle homoerotic nature. Many paintings during this period contain a lot of hidden symbolism; homosexuality, eroticism, death etc. I’ve always loved art historical still lives for their concealed messaging through objects and na- ture and those references definitely come into play in my work too. I also love the absolute icon of British artists that is Tracey Emin. Emin’s work is autobi- ographical and confessional and deals with subjects such as her mental health, sex life and being a woman in our society. Emin’s work is very raw
and honest and through the use of installation her work is also just incredible to experience. I also cannot get enough of the work of Flora Yukhnovich. I re- cently saw her work in the flesh for the first time and I was completely blown away. I find her paintings very inspiring as they reference famous historical Rococo paintings and subjects but created instead by layers of abstracted brush strokes and bright bubblegum colours. Her paintings are then entitled with modern popular culture titles (her recent show at Victoria Miro Gallery was entitled “Thirst Trap”) which creates an entirely different reading of the subjects within the original artworks and their meanings.
What has been your favourite recent project you’ve worked on and why?
I’ve loved working on my ceramics and it has definitely inspired me to begin more projects where I incorporate sourced antiques and vintage pieces into my work. I also of course LOVED painting my Bell helmet and it was an in- credible experience - one that I’d love to do again!
Tell us all about your awesome Bell helmet design!
When creating my previous ceramics collection I was very interested in incor- porating the religious iconography commonly used throughout Western art history and reframing it into a queer narrative. Lyrics that seem to have al- ways stuck with me throughout the years are from Patti Smiths “Gloria: In Ex- celsis Deo” where in the beginning of the song she sings the line “Jesus Died For Somebody’s Sins, But Not Mine.” Those were the first words that came to mind when I started my ceramics series and they rang again within my head when the Bell Helmet arrived at my door. I always find being a woman inter- ested in motorcycles (a perceived male interest) to be a very colourful experi- ence, littered with other peoples opinions (when is being a woman not!).
“Isn’t that dangerous”, “I don’t think you’ll be very good at that”, “You mean a scooter right? Not like an ACTUAL motorbike?” - all things I’ve been told when I’ve said I’m interested in learning how to ride. I wanted this helmet to feel powerful and feminine, a rebellion of its own... and yes, I did listen to a fair bit of 90’s girl punk when painting it haha. On the crown of the helmet two snakes form the shape of a love heart that frames Patti Smith’s lyrics and from the words falls a single droplet of blood down the centre. Snakes in a biblical sense symbolise temptation and evil (we love a girl in her Villain Era! aka reclaiming her autonomy lol). Two snakes curl round the sides of the helmet and bring you to the back where two more intertwine through the straps of a harness. Below the harness the words “Damn Blessed” are writ- ten. Words that just popped into my head and seemed like fun play on the idea of being both damned and damn blessed to be a Queer person and/or general baddie. You already look like a bad ass whilst riding a motorbike so you might as well go the whole damn mile right?
What materials did you use to create the helmet?
I used my iPad with procreate to help me create the design, I then used film free decal papers to turn my digital design into a useful stencil for the helmet and then from there I used all One Shot enamel paints to paint the helmet!
What was the process you used to paint the helmet? - How long did it take you to create?
The helmet took me about two weeks! When you work digitally so often its easy to forget how much time painting requires...especially when each layer of paint needs two days to dry! I really enjoyed the process though, it was therapeutic and hours seemed to pass me by in seconds. I loved every mo- ment!
